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Funding/The Verge AI/July 30, 2026 at 4:33 PM

Friend re-launches its AI pendant with a speaker that talks to you, for twice the price

Do you remember Friend? The Friend that launched an AI pendant, spent $1.8 million of its $2.5 million in funding to acquire friend.com, and plastered the NYC subway with ads promoting artificial companionship? Yeah well, if you didn't remember, Friend is back. And now, it's twice the price. This morning, Friend launched a new ad […]

Funding / The Verge AI
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Do you remember Friend? The Friend that launched an AI pendant, spent $1.8 million of its $2.5 million in funding to acquire friend.com, and plastered the NYC subway with ads promoting artificial companionship? Yeah well, if you didn't remember, Friend is back . And now, it's twice the price. This morning, Friend launched a new ad showing two people talking to their Friend pendants about very personal life problems. It didn't say it explicitly, but the ad showcased a new feature the pendant now includes: a speaker. Before, Friend would only message back to you, but now, it will talk to you, too. For some reason, the addition of that feature … Read the full story at The Verge.