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This $100 AI 'Friend' Was Designed To Hate You · The imuRgency Room

• 0:00
  Did you know that y'all can buy a best friend now for like 100
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  bucks? Well, I mean like an AI version
• 0:04
  of it that also might cost you the fuck out, but you can buy a
• 0:08
  best friend for 100 bucks. This whole AI Bessie situation
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  has gotten way out of hand. Hey guys, what's up?
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  I know you all love emergency, so this is emergency too.
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  You see what I did there? But yeah, I'm not kidding.
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  The whole loneliness epidemic mixed with the whole over
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  reliance on AI has finally come together and given us the third
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  horseman of evil, which is friend.com.
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  Now, if you're chronically online and or live in a major
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  metropolitan area, you may have seen the ads for friend.com in
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  subways on billboards that features this blank background
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  with a small white pendant with nothing but a URL next to it
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  that says friend.com. I think they might also have
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  some that say like, oh, the friend that's never going to
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  leave you behind or like the friend that's never going to let
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  you down or something like that. But more of the story.
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  The ads are very simplistic, very cryptic and very almost
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  Black Mirror ish in the way that they're presented.
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  And I know when I first encounter one of these ads, I
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  was actually in Paris and I was like, oh, what is friend.com?
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  I don't know if you knew this, but like Paris has a lot of ads
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  for a lot of things. And the marketing for all of
• 1:01
  these ads just does not make any sense.
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  And it's not because it's in French and I don't speak French.
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  These ads were in English and they still did not make a lick
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  of sense. But I saw a friend.com ad over
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  there and it didn't really make a lot of sense to me.
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  I didn't pay it much mine. Then I went to New York and was
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  taking the subway there and saw some brend.com ads and was like,
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  okay, I'm seeing this again. What is this?
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  Still thinking Nothing of it. And it wasn't until I got back
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  home to LA that I saw a brend.com billboard while I was
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  driving. But I was like, oh, wait, all
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  right, now I'm driving and look what I see friend dot fucking
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  com as this bus almost hits me. I can't make this stuff up.
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  It's crazy. We might be hitting a little
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  marketing issue here because I have seen this ad in almost
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  every city that I have been in in the past couple of months.
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  And you know what they say about the rules of sevens with
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  marketing. So I looked it up and going to
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  be honest with you, when I first did see the ads for these
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  things, I was thinking that it was some kind of PR scheme.
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  Like I thought it was some kind of satirical anti AI social
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  experiment where you like type in the website and it tells you
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  like, oh, make some friends in real life and touch some grass.
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  But no, it was not that at all. And I'm not the only one that's
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  seen these and been kind of perplexed by them because a lot
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  of these ads that are posted up around cities have been getting
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  defaced with people writing stuff on the ads, basically
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  trying to dissuade people from using the service and expressing
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  anti AI sentiments, which real. And it's clear that there's like
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  a real push here because the CEO of friend.com has invested
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  $1,000,000 in just subway advertisements.
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  So it's clear that they want us to use this service.
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  But what exactly is it? I got curious.
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  So I want to go look into it to see whatever the heck this
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  friend.com thing is so you don't have to.
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  So essentially when you log on to friend.com, you get greeted
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  with this white page that kind of is like a ChatGPT like chat
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  box where you go and chat with your new friend and you
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  basically just talk to it and it speaks you back.
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  I tried asking it to describe what it is, where you can buy
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  it, and based on what it said, it's not out yet.
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  But looking on the website, you can buy like a physical version
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  of the chat bot, which is basically like a pendant for a
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  whopping $129. So I'm not sure what's true
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  there, but trying to figure out anything more from it is kind of
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  frustrating because it is pretty elusive.
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  And becauseyourfriend.com is not your real friend, it has nothing
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  to share of itself. And it's also just like really
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  secretive about details around what it's meant to be.
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  Yeah, it just seems like a semi personalized version of ChatGPT.
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  I mean, I didn't really test its limits.
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  I didn't test too much of it because I felt bad bringing up
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  the electricity and using precious water just to go back
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  and forth with this friend bot. So I just went further on the
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  website to see what was going on.
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  And what I did find was the pendant version of the chat bot.
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  Yes, a physical pendant like button thing that you can wear
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  on your person to speak to your friend bought on the go.
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  It kind of gave like a modern day version of like a pokey
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  Walker if anyone remember those kind of like Tamagotchi things.
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  Yeah, OK, I'm looking at the website now and it's not quite
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  out yet. It's going to be shipping winter
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  20252026 and yeah, it costs you a pretty penny.
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  You yourself can buy a codependent overly invasive
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  friend for the low price of $129.
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  Right? Like this is just so odd and I
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  don't mean to judge because I know everyone has a different
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  situation in terms of their connection and friendship, but
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  like this really should be a wake up call to go and touch
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  some grass, make some real friends because the situation is
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  getting dire. According to an article going
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  more in depth with thefriend.com, the pendant
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  itself also listens to whatever you're doing as you move through
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  the world, no tap required, and offers a running commentary on
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  the interactions you have throughout your day.
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  To perform that trick, the device has microphones that are
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  always activated. Yes, for $129 you can have a
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  pendant that is always listening to you and giving commentary on
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  it. Like what?
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  Why would you want this? And I was it's like looking into
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  what exactly it's saying. And it's not really anything
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  substantive. In fact, most of the press about
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  this AI talks about how a lot of times the AI is either mean to
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  you or just straight up hates you.
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  Like that doesn't make no sense to me.
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  Like what? And let's not even get into this
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  website. Like on the website, they have a
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  picture of this girl and showing like the potential questions the
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  pendant asks you when you are I guess at a museum.
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  And it's kind of given, like it's just asking you prompting
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  questions to get you to think more what they're saying things
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  like, so is this big oil painting living up to the hype?
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  Wanna grab food or keep exploring?
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  Are these just funny sculptures then, or is there more to this
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  exhibit? Like, these are just internal
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  thoughts. These are thoughts that you
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  should be having to yourself. This should be your internal
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  dialogue. You should not be paying $120.00
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  to have something feed you your own internal dialogue.
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  Like what? Like it's the wanna grab food or
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  keep exploring. You get a notification on your
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  phone that asks you that. OK, you probably were already
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  thinking that. So what are you gonna do?
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  You're gonna pick up the pendant and speak into it.
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  Be like, yeah, I think I wanna go grab some food.
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  Like, you look wild. And I feel like this is trying
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  to be like the OG Bluetooth because walk with me here.
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  You remember when Bluetooth first got rolled out, like when
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  Bluetooth first started becoming popular, you would see people
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  talking to themselves because you aren't used to seeing like
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  Bluetooth headphones of like no wires and just things in
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  people's ears and they're talking.
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  So you think that people were crazy until Bluetooth became
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  popular enough that now, like when you see someone with
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  wireless headphones or like something in their ears and
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  they're talking to themselves, you're like, OK, they're not
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  actually crazy. They're actually talking to
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  another person. I think this is trying to be
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  that, but it's kind of flopping because nothing is talking back
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  to you. AI is talking back to you on
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  your phone, and that's the main thing about the pendant.
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  The pendant doesn't speak to you.
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  It just sends you a push notification on your phone.
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  So you're getting push notifications, you're speaking
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  to your phone and it's talking back to you like any other chat
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  bot would like. I don't.
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  And your real video itself is just so crunchy.
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  I'm sorry. The video address gives Black
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  Mirror, because what do you mean?
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  You're pressing on your thing and you're making a comment and
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  it's like affirming it. Like first and foremost, no
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  shade to the actors in this revealed trailer.
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  But like, girly acting, I don't know if we're trying to give big
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  millennial chook vibes or if the people who made this just have
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  to be the same people that wrote the dialogue in both Riverdale
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  and Ginny in Georgia. Because what is this?
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  It's dank. I could eat one of these every
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  day. The burrito is dank and you
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  could eat one of those every day.
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  OK, girl. And my main problem with the ad
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  and why I think this is all just so kind of cryptic and praying
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  on the loneliness epidemic. It really stems from this last
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  scene in the trailer. I just kind of like to come up
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  here to be by myself. I've never brought anybody else.
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  I mean besides her. She goes everywhere with you,
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  right? I guess I must be doing
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  something right though. I guess so.
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  We'll see. This is what gives like the most
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  Black Mirror to me, like the concept of being like I never
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  brought anybody else up here, but I mean her or anybody,
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  anybody, your pendant, your AI pendant, like that is just so
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  dystopian to me. And the fact that like I think
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  that they were trying to give like flirty vibes, like, Oh my
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  God. Well, they won't they vibes from
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  like that last scene, but it really kind of gave like
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  cryptic, like uncanny valley. Like why is a real person, a
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  real romantic love interest, having to fight for your
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  attention because you are so emotionally attached to this
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  little AI pendant? Like we have things like this,
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  then we want to be shocked at why people are going through a
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  loneliness epidemic and AAI induced psychosis crisis.
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  Like this is the problem people. And we're just having
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  increasingly more stuff like this.
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  Like it's crazy. I don't know, like would you buy
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  this? Like is this intriguing to you?
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  I know I've been coming on very hot.
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  Is this not wild to y'all? Like at least can we please like
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  pump the brakes for a little bit and come together as a group be
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  like, all right, are we all cool with this before we move
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  forward? I think the worst part about
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  this, and I've kind of alluded to this earlier, is that like,
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  for one, it's just odd. And two, I feel like the problem
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  that this friend.com stuff is trying to fix is actually just
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  making it worse. Because the concept of wearing
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  like essentially like a live wire pendant AI that is
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  listening and probably recording everything with relatively
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  sketchy policies around privacy and data sharing is inherently
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  antisocial or I guess a social. In an article actually reviewing
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  the product, the author talks about her experience actually
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  wearing the pendant out in public, and she describes it as
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  an incredibly antisocial device to wear.
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  People were never excited to see it around my neck.
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  I certainly wouldn't approach my neighbor with a mic and try to
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  assuage their anxiety by telling them the audio is just going to
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  a chat box. And I'll admit I'm not the
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  target audience. I imagine the people who want a
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  friend is someone who's likely not a journalist who may have
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  more social occasions where they can support an always listening
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  pendant. I found out quickly that even at
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  the most tech minded gatherings, the thing was a complete taboo.
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  And like, if you can't wear this kind of tech at like a tech
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  gathering where that's like people's bread and butter that
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  is usually obsessed with all the latest tech, maybe that's
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  telling us something. Like if your goal is to isolate
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  yourself further and like lower the chances of having actual
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  social interaction, then this is the perfect product for you.
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  Like, this is really less than a Band-Aid for the problem of
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  being lonely and is only going to make the situation more
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  intolerable for everyone involved.
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  Like, let's have these AI bods guide you to real social
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  interactions, you know, bring you to the places where people
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  actually are so you can put those things away and have
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  actual interactions with real people and not have them
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  incentivize you to keep them as your only friend.
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  Like the whole point of AI and the whole, the whole point of
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  these devices is supposed to make your life easier, right?
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  It's meant to improve your life should help you either need them
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  less or be on them less because the whole point of artificial
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  intelligence and streamline and augment things is so you don't
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  have to be doing that stuff. It can be enjoying life and the
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  fruits of life, which oftentimes are community.
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  But it's clear based on public perception of the device and how
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  the device actually works. These products are only trying
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  to make themselves more useful AKA make you use them more which
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  means they want you to continue to be say with me lonely.
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  Yes. Like why would you invest in
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  market a physical chap if you didn't have intentions of making
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  it a long term thing? Meaning that you were banking on
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  people still being lonely after using a chat bot so they use it
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  more. I don't know this for certain
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  and this is all legit and this is just how I would predict
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  things would go based on how other things have gone.
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  Right now they're advertising it as like, no subscription fee.
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  You just buy the thing and you're able to use the thing.
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  But based on what I've seen in Black Mirror and based on what
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  I've seen in capitalism, I go so far to say within the first year
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  or less, they're going to start rolling out subscription feeds
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  to make your chat bot more personable.
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  Maybe not just a friend bot, maybe a romance bot, maybe a
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  therapist bot for an extra cost, an extra tear on top of the
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  regular friend bot. Watch this space.
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  I don't know. But again, I have to keep
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  repeating myself. There is something so weird
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  about this. Like we need to pump the brakes.
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  Things are going too far too fast in directions we don't need
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  them to go. And my thing is like, it's not
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  just the friend A is because we're seeing these forms of
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  essentially surveillance because like, not to put on my tinfoil
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  hat, but like that's kind of what it is.
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  If you have a device on you that's listening to you 24
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  seven, that's keeping some sort of log of what it's hearing
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  because it needs those memories to give you reasonable
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  inappropriate feedback to what you're saying.
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  It's recording and listening to you.
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  And that brings up a whole slew of just like consent and privacy
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  things. We've seen it with the meta Ray
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  ban glasses of people being recorded essentially without
• 11:34
  their consent. And I guess talking about the
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  ethics of that because does anyone have a right to privacy
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  anymore? Is that even a thing?
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  Like if you are in a public space, do you, are you allowed
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  or allowed any form of privacy in the digital age?
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  Because yes, when we go out in public, we do consent to be seen
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  by the public, but that public historically has been maybe a
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  couple 100 people, maybe 1000 people a day, not the millions
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  of potential people that could see you if you get caught up in
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  the background or the subject in someone's TikTok.
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  And then did you know that they have like AI Furbies now?
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  Yeah, mufflins are a thing. First it was the Beanie Baby,
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  then it was the Furby, then it was the Idog, the for Real
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  Friends and even more recently the Zuzu pets, you know, like
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  the little things that you'd wind up and they can like run on
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  the floor or I guess they're motorized, they're like battery
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  operated. They're like little hamsters or
• 12:15
  whatever critters that can go on the floor and kind of act like a
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  real hamster or whatever critter.
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  Like they've upped that for the year 2025 because Moplins are AI
• 12:24
  powered furry creatures, I think.
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  And they're described as a calming presence and offer quiet
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  reassurance as an AI friend, that they ease stress and bring
• 12:32
  comfort when it matters most. Enjoy the warmth and lifelike
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  bond of a smart companion that uses emotional AI to respond to
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  you, understand you, and grow with you.
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  And my question is, how the hell does it do that?
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  How the hell does it do that? What do you mean?
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  And I hate to sound like a boomer that's just discovering
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  the telephone for the first time, but like, what do you
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  mean? It's having a lifelike bond with
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  you. What is emotional AI?
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  How does it know when you're in distress?
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  Because based on the videos and the advertisements, it just
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  moves its neck around and you pet it.
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  And it's supposed to make you feel better because you're
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  having some kind of connection, physical touch with something
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  that's moving with you. They look kind of cute.
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  But also, I feel like this one also listens to you.
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  So it's like, OK, surveillance when you're in distress,
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  probably hearing some of your crazy thoughts that you're
• 13:17
  having when you're in distress or hearing some of the arguments
• 13:21
  that would upset you that would cause you to be in distress
• 13:23
  where you'd need to pet your little, your little AI Zuzu pet.
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  I need to know more. But just hearing it right now, I
• 13:28
  don't like it. Like I keep saying Zuzu pet
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  because Zuzu pet's whole purpose were to be like the lifelike
• 13:33
  pets for the kids that weren't either allowed to have pets or
• 13:36
  were allergic to pets. So I get that it's meant to fill
• 13:39
  that same space of like an actual animal, except unlike A
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  Zuzu pet, it only moves its head around like it's given Five
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  Nights at Freddy's animatronic that listens to you and also is
• 13:49
  like almost $500. Yeah, I saved that one for last
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  because I was sure that would gag you.
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  These little creatures, these little critters, almost $500.
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  That crazy to me. And I think that all of this is
• 14:02
  just going to show the levels in which we are willing to innovate
• 14:06
  or honestly shoot ourselves in the foot to help alleviate the
• 14:09
  pressures in the real emotional impact of the loneliness
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  epidemic that we're all in. Except it really feels like
• 14:14
  we're doing everything in our power to make all these things
• 14:17
  so that we don't have to actually talk to real people.
• 14:19
  Because again, the solution to all this, and I know this is
• 14:22
  like really simplifying the whole issue, is to talk to
• 14:25
  people and to have friends and to build community.
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  So instead of setting up spaces, changing cultural norms around
• 14:30
  socialization and their thoughts around friendship, where instead
• 14:33
  telling each other expensive delusions are imitations of a
• 14:36
  authentic human experience that we all need to survive.
• 14:40
  Like, I don't know, we get closer and closer, Wally, each
• 14:42
  day. I don't fuck with it.
• 14:43
  So I'm going to go touch some grass.