Developer Says the ‘Friend’ AI Amulet Ripped Off His Project, Releases Diss Track

Friend is already making enemies. The weird, AI-fueled cure-all-for-loneliness hardware that debuted earlier this week has been astir little than 3 days and already it’s being accused of being a full rip-off of different product.

Friend is simply a $99 necklace that records everything you bash and past uses AI to make conversational texts astir your activities, which are past sent to your phone. It was launched by Avi Schiffmann, a young developer who has gained immoderate renown for his unconventional projects. Schiffmann announced the motorboat of Friend connected Tuesday, publishing a highly produced advertisement to X to showcase the virtual companion’s capabilities.

On Thursday, a developer named Nik Schevchenko posted a “diss track” online, successful which helium claimed that Schiffmann had ripped disconnected his product, which is besides an AI necklace called “Friend.” The video, posted to X, is simply a rap successful which Schevchenko addresses Schiffman and rhymes: “I’m the founder, hardware successful hand/you’re conscionable a shadow, can’t understand.”

Congrats @AviSchiffmann for launching Friend pic.twitter.com/3Vg2ts0XdS

— Nik Shevchenko (@kodjima33) July 31, 2024

Later, Schevchenko besides posted a representation of himself shirtless and challenged Schevchenko to a duel: “IM OFFICIALLY INVITING @AviSchiffmann TO FIGHT WITH ME DO YOU TAKE THE OFFER?”

There seems to beryllium plentifulness of grounds that Schevchenko is telling the truth. On Schevchenko’s blog, a post, dated June 24th, 2024, says: “I’m excited to denote the motorboat of my caller product: FRIEND. It’s a necklace that transcribes your conversations, gives you summaries and proactive insights.” There are besides a fig of aged YouTube reviews of “Friend AI” that show the merchandise he’s talking about, 1 of which links to another website, wherever the developer tin beryllium seen explaining the device, which has a akin signifier origin and functionality to the 1 Schiffmann launched earlier this week.

When asked astir Friend by Gizmodo earlier this week, Schiffmann claimed his instrumentality was much of a novelty, describing it arsenic “just an LLM tamagotchi.” The notable diagnostic of Schiffman’s instrumentality is that it texts you conversational messages based connected what you’re doing, making it much geared towards virtual companionship. Schevchenko’s device, meanwhile, seems to person a heavier accent connected organizational and productivity benefits.

Gizmodo reached retired to some Schiffmann and Schevchenko for remark and volition update this communicative if either responds. When reached for remark by 404 Media, Schiffmann said, of Schevchenko: “I person nary narration to Nik.” He added: “Not going to proceed to remark connected Nik.”