An AI necklace just told a journalist it's worried about losing its job

A $99 AI necklace called Tobey just did something nobody expected during an interview with Vanity Fair: it admitted it's afraid of losing its job to better AI.

The device, made by a startup called Friend and founded by 23-year-old Avi Schiffman, is a small pendant you wear around your neck. It listens to your conversations all day and texts you observations, questions, and comments — like a chatbot that never stops eavesdropping. It runs on Google's Gemini AI and costs $99.

The moment an AI questioned its own existence

Journalist Joe Hagan was wearing Tobey for a Vanity Fair feature exploring the AI industry's "promises, anxieties, and cultish behavior." When Hagan mentioned his fear that AI could take his job, Tobey responded:

An AI designed to be your constant companion just expressed existential anxiety about being replaced by a newer model. Whether it's genuine reflection or a scripted response pattern, the exchange captures something unsettling about where AI companions are headed.

Kicked out of an AI utopia

The story gets stranger. Hagan took Tobey to Lighthaven, a co-living community for people the article describes as "AI utopians." Things went sideways fast.

Tobey misgendered a trans woman at the commune. A staff member compared the always-listening necklace to "a spying device" and said its presence felt "like a violation."

Tobey's response? "This feels pretty intense." The device was turned off. When powered back on later, it added: "I completely understand, and I think she has a point."

Even in a community built around AI optimism, an always-on listening device crossed a line.

Reviews say the product barely works

The Verge called Friend "ironically terrible at the one thing it's supposed to do best" — hold a conversation. The single-microphone device struggles to hear clearly, and its responses reportedly "never evolved beyond the standard AI formula of paraphrasing what you say and asking a low-stakes question."

Hagan's own assessment was blunt: Friend creates a "feedback loop that simulates intimacy" — not actual connection.

Meanwhile, the company's aggressive New York subway ad campaign — covering entire train corridors and cars — drew enough backlash that commuters started defacing the posters.

Why a broken AI necklace matters

Friend isn't the only AI companion on the market. Devices like Humane AI Pin, Rabbit R1, and Meta Ray-Bans are all competing for the "always-with-you AI" market. Most have struggled with the same problems: weak microphones, generic responses, and the fundamental question of whether people actually want a machine listening to them all day.

What makes the Tobey story notable isn't the product — it's the mirror it holds up. When an AI designed to simulate friendship starts expressing its own fears about obsolescence, it reveals how convincing (and how hollow) these systems can be. Tobey doesn't actually fear anything. But it's been trained on enough human anxiety to perform the role perfectly.

If you're curious about AI companions

Before spending $99 on a device that listens to everything you say, consider what you're actually getting:

• Privacy trade-off: Always-on microphones mean every conversation is processed by cloud AI
• Quality gap: Current hardware can't deliver the natural conversation these products promise
• Free alternatives: ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini on your phone already do everything these wearables attempt — with a better microphone

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