Friendis already making enemies . The weird , AI - fuel cure - all - for - solitariness hardware that debuted earlier this hebdomad has been around less than three daylight and already it ’s being accuse of being a rip - off of another ware .
On Thursday , a developer named Nik Schevchenko posteda “ diss path ” online , in which he take that Schiffmann had ripped off his product , which is also an AI necklace called “ Friend . ” The video , post to X , is a belt in which Schevchenko addresses Schiffman and rhymes : “ I ’m the founding father , hardware in hand / you’re just a shadow , ca n’t understand . ”
Congrats@AviSchiffmannfor launching Friendpic.twitter.com/3Vg2ts0XdS
© Screenshot/Lucas Ropek/friend.com
— Nik Shevchenko ( @kodjima33)July 31 , 2024
subsequently , Schevchenko also post a picture of himself shirtless and challenged Schevchenko to a duel : “ IM OFFICIALLY INVITING @AviSchiffmann TO press WITH ME DO YOU TAKE THE OFFER ? ”
On Schevchenko’sblog , a post , dated June 24th , 2024 , says : “ I ’m emotional to announce the launching of my raw product : FRIEND . It ’s a necklace that transcribes your conversations , give you summaries and proactive insights . ” There are alsoa issue of old YouTube reviewsof “ Friend AI ” that display the product he ’s blab about , one of which yoke toanother site , where the developer can be see to it explaining the equipment , which has a similar form factor and functionality to the one Schiffmann launched earlier this hebdomad .
When asked about Friend by Gizmodo in the first place this workweek , Schiffmann exact his machine was more of a novelty , describing it as “ just an LLM tamagotchi . ” The far-famed feature of Schiffman ’s gadget is that it texts you conversational message free-base on what you ’re doing , construct it more geared towards virtual companionship . Schevchenko ’s gadget , meanwhile , seems to have a heavier stress on organizational and productiveness benefit .
When gain for remark about Schevchenko ’s claim , Schiffmann said that Gizmodo ’s reporting was “ totally incorrect . ” “ I started workplace on Tab [ the previous name of Friend ] in May of last year , and had a viral demonstration in October , ” Schiffman said , providing a videoof the demo . “ This was the first ever live demo of an always on ai wearable , ” he add . “ subsequently on , someone copied it with a simple OSS version call Adeus , ” Schiffmann said , allow for a tweet , date February 2nd , that showed developer Adam Cohen Hillel reference Schiffmann ’s “ Tab , ” as a product akin to his own , Adeus . He then provided another tweetbearing a screenshot , date January 25th , 2024 , that appears to show a conversation between Schiffmann and a friend , Mickey Friedman , with the two of them discussing the name “ Friend ” for the product . Schiffmann also noted that he had buy the domainfriend.comin February of this year .
Gizmodo spoke with Schevchenko on the phone and he altercate Schiffmann ’s interpretation of events . Schevchenko claimed that Schiffmann was n’t the first mortal to come up with the idea of a wearable AI pendant , and that he and Hillel had previously discussed such a gimmick . Gizmodo reached out to Hillel to well understand his purpose in the dispute but could n’t get ahold of him .
UPDATE : A late interpretation of this storey said there “ look to be wad of evidence ” that Schevchenko was say the truth . We ’ve taken out this division of text to more accurately excogitate the nature of the dispute .
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