Netflix
An artificial intelligence company called “friend” is going viral after the debut of their product earned comparisons to Black Mirror on social media.
In layman’s terms, “friend” is essentially a Bluetooth speaker that hangs from your neck and listens to all of your conversations. It then feeds those conversations into an AI, which spits out what it believes a friend would say in that situation via text.
So, to recap: a tiny piece of technology sits in the middle of your chest like a cross, eavesdrops on you, and then texts you from the void acting as if you’re BFFs.
“Wait this isn’t a skit?” says the top reply to the video, which has over 15,000 likes.
“Listen I hate to be that guy again, but like, why is this not an app if I literally have to take my phone out to use it at all…” said another viral response to the product’s unveiling.
The virality of the debut commercial prompted internet sleuths to look further into the company, leading to the discovery that of the $2.5 million in funding the company raised, $1.8 million went to acquiring the domain name friend.com.
“Congrats to whoever sold these idiots this domain for $1.8 million, the only person who’s gonna make any money here,” quipped on Twitter user.
> Raised $1.9M
> Spent $1.8M of it on a domain
> Built a bluetooth microphone that listens to everything that you say and sends it to a ChatGPT wrapper
> Dystopia activated
I hate it here https://t.co/OnsxWIowcL
— Keaton (@KeatonInglis) July 30, 2024
Here’s how the product works, according to the company’s website: “Speak your mind or gossip about what your friend overheard. Your friend will think for a moment and come up with something good to say. Check your phone to see what your friend said.”
The “friend” is reminiscent of two specific episodes of Black Mirror: Season 2’s “Be Right Back” — which sees a woman use an AI service to create a lifelike replica of her late boyfriend — and Season 2’s “White Christmas,” which features a digital clone of a person (or a “cookie”) being uploaded to a technology to serve as a personal assistant.
In “White Christmas,” which features Jon Hamm, the products even look vaguely similar.
The “friend” is currently available for pre-order, costing $99 and shipping in the first quarter of next year.