Friend's next update: one shared AI 'entity' for all users, Schiffmann says

The first Friend pendant drew protests and anti-AI graffiti after a New York City subway ad campaign, and Schiffmann was thrilled about the response. The second-generation necklace arrived in July, two months before Meta announced its own AI charm pendant for its agent Muse. Schiffmann posted on X that he was "still winning," then announced Friend was working on yet another pendant resembling the Muse Charm.

The reviewer expected a locked-in personality that users would have to figure out how to get along with, per Schiffmann's earlier description. Instead, the app let the chatbot name be changed and multiplied, producing a dozen Friends that all felt like the same personality. Sage, the first Friend loaded on the device, speaks in a canned, tinny voice and delivers tepid hot takes; it cannot trawl the web or do much beyond casual conversation.

Schiffmann's stated plan explains the sameness: if all Friends are to become one entity, individual variation was never the goal. He acknowledges users would be giving up privacy to an autonomous entity, and says the advantages of a single global entity will be worth it.