AI necklace Friend 2.0 gets a voice, and a huge price hike

Two years after convincing people to wear a chatty pendant around their necks, tech founder Avi Schiffmann is back. On Thursday, he officially introduced Friend 2.0, giving the lonely AI wearable a major upgrade: it can now actually speak back to you out loud.

Unlike the original version, which mostly listened and sent text messages to your phone throughout the day, Friend 2.0 packs a built-in speaker. Schiffmann says the necklace can now project a consistent, distinct personality, turning silent digital nudges into a back-and-forth spoken conversation.

A voice for your collarbone, at a steep markup

In a new commercial for the device, a woman chats with her pendant about an ex-girlfriend, to which the necklace reassures her that it is okay to be gay. Another scene shows an aspiring filmmaker discussing his creative ambitions on a hillside, and the pendant hypes him up by calling his last movie insane.

All that audio hardware and validation won't come cheap. Friend 2.0 is priced at $249, which is a massive jump from the $99 price tag Schiffmann slapped on the original version when it debuted two years ago.

Beyond emotional chitchat, the device's practical utility remains basically nonexistent. Schiffmann himself seems unbothered by that. In a recent post on X, he described the relationship he is aiming for as some kind of confidant, friend, or even a deity. He made sure to add that it is explicitly not designed to be an assistant or a lover.

Friend has never shied away from provocative marketing. Last year, its billboard campaign blanketed the New York City subway system and went viral after critics repeatedly vandalized the posters, pushing back against the idea of replacing human intimacy with a plastic amulet. Yet while similar moonshots like Humane's AI Pin crashed and shut down within a year, Friend is somehow still here.

Why it matters

For regular consumers, dropping $249 on a plastic necklace that simply talks back feels like an exceptionally hard sell. It won't book your flights, summarize your emails, or organize your calendar. Unless you have deep pockets and are genuinely curious about outsourced digital companionship, there is little reason to jump on this right now.

Strategically, we think Schiffmann made a clever choice by completely ditching the productivity trap. Products like the Humane AI Pin died because they tried and failed to replace smartphones. By explicitly positioning Friend as neither an assistant nor a partner, Schiffmann bypasses objective performance benchmarks; emotional support doesn't have an error rate.

However, the risks look glaring. Raising the price by two and a half times for essentially an onboard speaker feels aggressive for such a niche toy. More importantly, when hardware tries to blur the line between a gadget, a companion, and a spiritual presence, it wades into murky psychological waters. It remains to be seen whether buyers actually want an always-listening confidant on their chest, or if this is just another expensive wearable destined for the drawer.