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Episode 1189: Anike

The RELEVANT Podcast

CHAPTER

The Rise of AI Companions and Marketing Strategy

This chapter explores the introduction of 'friend', an AI companion that engages with users through text, and discusses its implications reminiscent of 'Black Mirror'. The conversation highlights the significant investment in marketing strategies and the importance of branding in the tech industry.

00:00
Speaker 1
Yeah, that's right. But stay tuned right now. Up next, get slices. You're listening to Be A Bad Ooby. The song is Beaches. Well today's show is brought to you in part by Wired to Fish Coffee. So many companies are not rooted in Christian principles nowadays. However, they do exist. Meet Wired to Fish Coffee. Founded by Christian anglers who are crazy about the love of Jesus for his people, Wired to Fish Coffee gives back 25% of their net profits to faith programs and clean water initiatives. Wired2Fish Coffee also offers a smooth, robust taste, rivaling any coffee shop brew. Give Wired2Fish Coffee a try today and join a community of people making a positive impact. Use code WECARE at Wired2FishCoffee.com at checkout and get an additional bag for free. You can make a difference. Again, that's wired the number two fishcoffee.com. Okay,
Speaker 2
it's time for slices. What do you have, Jesse? Alright, so there's a new tech product that's been getting a lot of attention this week. It's called friend and it is an AI companion. Basically, it's like a necklace with it with a small device. at the end. And it can listen to you and it hears what you're doing and can respond to you via text. So in an ad for this device, someone goes for a long run, right? And they're like, man, this was a good one. We finally made it. And then here, ding! And the friend device is like, yeah, good job today on this front. Or somebody's playing video games. And his buddy's talking trash. And the phone beeps. And it's like, you are really getting trash in this video game, dude. Or someone like eating a falafel and it is like oh this is so good I needed the lunch break and friend texts them and says how's the falafel or whatever right like it is the saddest loneliest thing I've ever seen. But the reason it's gaining so much attention isn't just because it seems so, like to add, even the music, it looks like a Black Mirror episode, as many people have noted. But the reason it's getting so much attention is because much of the product development money went to the domain where they're selling this device from friend.com. I don't know how much went into the device, but the individual who's, you know, brainchild, this is, spent $1.8 million just for the domain.
Speaker 3
Oh! Just for the web URL? Just for
Speaker 2
friend.com.

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