Schiffmann seems to be doing well, compared to the last times either of us data-offer-url=”https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/9/24315126/friend-pendant-artificial-intelligence-companionship-avi-schiffmann” class=”external-link” data-event-click=”{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/9/24315126/friend-pendant-artificial-intelligence-companionship-avi-schiffmann"}” href=”https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/9/24315126/friend-pendant-artificial-intelligence-companionship-avi-schiffmann” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>spoke to him. When he first announced the Friend, he talked about how he had come up with the idea for an AI buddy while traveling alone and yearning for companionship. Schiffmann posits himself as older now, wiser, more experienced than he was when he first debuted the Friend necklace. (He is 22.) He has grown out his hair and cultivated a beard, and he seems to have more real-life personal connections than when he first created…
