AI Is Going To Capitalize On A Declining Society
It's no news that we're in a fast declining society where the most messed up of things are given a pass, standards are changing and along with that is a growing distance between human connections.
Depression is on the rise, drug use is now a common practice, so much that it is viewed as “cool” amongst teenagers.
We thought our mobile devices coupled with social media made us distant and detached from reality, what's to come with artificial intelligence isn't something a lot of people quite understand.
In as much as it comes with great value, the damage it will cause will be of an equal great might.
When ChatGPT popped up, a number of people used it for personal conversations even when advised against that, it wasn't long before companies began leveraging this to create customized tone chatbots that would service a vast variety of human communications.
I'm talking about sassy, polite and friendly to sexual tones, wired into chatbots to capitalize on people's initial use of ChatGPT for similar purposes.
Do you know that there are currently a number of AI Therapists?
Yes, it costs way less than regular therapy so it's understandable that a number of people will want it as an alternative. But is it good enough or better? Well, that's a whole different topic. Regular therapy on its own is flawed and I could name a number of activities one could engage in as a substitute and get better results.
Friend AI Companion
Well, this has been trending on Twitter lately. It's simply called “Friend” but it's powered by AI, so.
From the videos I've seen, this product is on pre-order right now and it's basically a necklace with a white round device shaped like all those Pokemon buttons or whatever they are called - sorry, not a fan to know the appropriate name.
Friend, as the name implies, is a “friend,” and costs $99 with no subscription.
The device listens to the conversations of the owner and makes “free will” responses. Apparently, each friend device is unique to the owner and all data is stored locally.
In a sense, it doesn't seem any special or different from chatbots designed to be a “friend” or companion. The difference here is that you wear this AI as a necklace and listen via bluetooth.
Why is this trending?
Well, it's quite comical but the primary reason this is trending has to do with the fact that the Company apparently raised $2.5 million and used $1.8 million to purchase the domain “friend.com,” and everyone believes it was a bad investment.
Friend, an AI companion company announced today, spent $1.8 million out of a total of $2.5 million it raised to start the company on its domain name, friend.com, according to its founder Avi Schiffmann and a screenshot of the transaction shared with 404 Media.
In response to a question on Twitter from someone who asked him how much he paid for the domain, Schiffmann tweeted $1.8 million, which I assumed was a joke because Fast Company previously reported raised $1.9 million to start the company. TechCrunch reported today that Schiffmann raised $2.5 million at a $50 million valuation. Schiffmann confirmed to 404 Media he raised close to $2.5 million.
Is it a bad investment tho?
I wouldn't say it matters a lot. What's crazy is that something like this is being thought of and strikes as valuable enough to attract investments.
This is effectively capitalizing on the vulnerabilities of society today and the sad part is that even if Friend fails, there will be more and better versions and some will succeed.