Schiffmann brings always-listening AI companion to life

You’ve got a friend in Avi Schiffmann.

Friend.com, to be exact. It’s a new AI startup that the 21-year-old Mercer Island native will unleash upon the world on July 30, and Schiffmann is stoked to be taking the next step in his flourishing tech career.

Launched on World Friendship Day, the small, blood cell-shaped pendant is an always-listening AI companion designed to be one’s close confidant as wearers speak to the device and receive push notification replies. It’s like utilizing a walkie-talkie, the solo founder noted about the AI comrade, which is priced at $99 each sans subscription.

Schiffmann’s team has raised about $2.5 million to bring the product to life. He’s trying to shoot for at least 30,000 pre-orders when all systems are go with the device.

“The concept is it’s basically like a wearable AI friend, like a modern Tamagotchi. Because it’s always listening, it has context of a conversation like this. It can interject and text you first,” said Schiffmann, who discussed the device over the phone from San Francisco where he was staying with a friend for a few days amid his travels.

While Schiffmann was working on a product in Tokyo earlier this year and spending time alone in a hotel, he felt lonely and began mentally mapping out what would eventually become Friend.com.

“That’s when I realized, honestly, the thing I need right now, the thing I want is to have someone here with me, a real companion to talk to and share this trip with. My time zones are off, my friends are fast asleep, or you don’t really know what they’re going to say or respond to you,” said Schiffmann, who added that the AI pal remembers everything one says while becoming acquainted with the wearer during their time together.

Schiffmann, who has been focused on creating the product for the last year and a half, feels the concept of digital relationships will be massive in reshaping culture.

He has garnered a robust online following and raised money for Friend.com because of his AI hardware expertise in the present day and past accomplishments. From 2020-22, he became known for constructing ultra-popular and successful websites to track COVID-19 cases around the world (as a high-schooler) and connect Ukrainian refugees with potential hosts in neighboring countries (a collaboration with former Harvard University classmate Marco Burstein).

At age 19, Schiffmann notched Mercer Island’s prestigious Community Member of the Year award for his involvement in those critical websites and making a global impact. At that juncture in September of 2022, he said there was more to come — and that time is now.

Upon receiving that honor, Schiffmann said he was “only just getting started.” He chuckled at that comment recently, noting that he guesses he was correct.

“I think primarily, though, what I learned from all that was just, I think, more so confidence in myself to just do the things that I want to do. I think not everyone will go out and do a startup, I suppose. But to me, it’s just something to do,” Schiffmann said.

Schiffmann said he gains inspiration from stellar works of art that he witnesses during his world travels. Last November, he was in awe of Michelangelo’s Statue of David in Florence, Italy.

“You see this and it’s incredible, and you realize it’s just sculpted by one other dude that just had an idea and just put it out there,” he said. “I think I just like doing my own thing and putting it out there, too. There’s not really any deeper meaning than just, I like to think if you view your work as art, you have no competition. For me, this is just a big art project, in a sense.”

Pulling his ideas out of the ether and bringing them to fruition has been fun for Schiffmann and he hopes to continue making an impact on others with his work. Schiffmann said he plans to continue along this crucial and life-changing tech path for as long as possible.

For more information, visit: http://friend.com and https://x.com/AviSchiffmann

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