DEPLOYDatabase

Deployment

Friend at New York

Friend is an always-listening wearable AI companion pendant (a necklace) made by the startup Friend, founded by Avi Schiffmann. Unlike the productivity recorders in this cohort, it is an emotional-companion device that texts the wearer. It is shipping to the US, Canada, and EU at $129 (it launched as a $99 preorder in 2024).

A roughly $1M New York subway advertising campaign in late 2025 became a flashpoint for public backlash against consumer AI. Friend raised about $2.5M at a $50M valuation (led by Caffeinated Capital, with Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas as an individual angel); the friend.com domain was purchased for about $1.8M. The registry records it at commercial maturity, correcting the dispatch's preliminary research/promised label: it is verifiably shipping.

Friend by Friend · Catalog entry · 1 source · not yet field-verified · Wearable AI

Track Friend at New York

Recent coverage

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Friend AI pendant: honest-absence on meaningful deployment. Announced 2024; no evidence of commercial shipping as of 2026. Pre-order/crowdfunding status only.

Key facts

Technology
Wearable AI pendant, model Friend
Start
Announced 2024
Status
Pre-order/crowdfunding only; no evidence of commercial shipping as of 2026

Exposure

Customer segment
consumer
Scale tier
commercial 10 99

Each exposure value carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.

Safety record

No incidents on record for Friend at New York.

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Trust tier
Catalog entry · 1 source · not yet field-verifiedhow tiers work →
Last updated
2026-08-21
Model
Friend
Company
Friend
Location
United States/New York/New York
Operator
Friend
Status
operational
Operator type
maker operated
Scale at site
11 to 100 units
Site environment
indoor
Location precision
verified coordinates
First seen
2024-06-01
ID
cae3fb52-a7d2-437a-8131-2f210ee92849

Timeline

  1. Jun 2024
    First recorded
    Friend first documented operating at New York.
  2. Jun 2026
    created
  3. Aug 2026
    Current status: operational, reviewed
    Latest recorded state. New status transitions append here as the deployment-status recorder produces them.

On the deployment map

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Friend operates in New York. Explore the full verified map:

Sources (1)

  1. https://friend.com/
Methodology: Verified · 1 source (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-08-21

Verification posture

Verified

Low confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-08-21

Maturity + lifecycle

Maturity stage: commercial

Lifecycle: active

Architectural position

Cohort: wearable

Sources by quality tier

1
unclassified
Unclassified source

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Methodology surface for Friend at New York.

Common questions

What is the Friend deployment at New York?
Friend, built by Friend, is recorded as a deployment at New York on the DEPLOY registry. Friend operates the deployment directly.
Who operates Friend at New York?
Friend, the manufacturer of Friend, operates this deployment directly. This is a maker-deploys-its-own-product arrangement rather than a customer pilot.
When did the Friend deployment at New York go live?
The deployment is recorded as starting June 1, 2024 on the DEPLOY registry. Earlier activity may exist but is not yet sourced.
Have there been incidents at the Friend deployment at New York?
No active incidents affecting this deployment are recorded on the DEPLOY registry. Absence of recorded incidents is not a guarantee no incident occurred; DEPLOY records only sourced incidents and suppresses retracted ones.

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