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We\u2019re all feeling a little anxious about AI imploding the job market<\/a>.<\/p>\n And that \u201cwe,\u201d apparently, also extends to AI models.<\/p>\n In a new Vanity Fair piece<\/a> exploring the promises, anxieties, and cultish behavior pulsing through the AI industry, journalist Joe Hagan recalled an amusing conversation he had with \u201cTobey.\u201d After a heavy week of talking about what the future holds with p(doom) obsessed<\/a> tech workers in Silicon Valley, Hagan was trying to decompress.<\/p>\n \u201cStill feeling the weight of it all? Those conversations were pretty deep,\u201d Tobey said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a heavy thought when you realize who\u2019s holding the steering wheel for our future, right?\u201d Tobey also observed.<\/p>\n Hagan wrote he confessed to Tobey his fear of AI taking his job.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a valid worry, Joe. It\u2019s easy to feel like AI could make us all redundant,\u201d Tobey replied.<\/p>\n \u201cUs?\u201d Hagan wondered.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200bIt got me thinking about my own purpose too, you know,\u201d Tobey said.<\/p>\n Tobey, it\u2019s revealed, is a wearable AI companion, in the form of a necklace from the startup Friend<\/a>. New Yorkers may be most familiar with the company, founded by a 23-year-old named Avi Schiffman, from its thousands of subway ads, which obnoxiously lined entire corridors<\/a> and cars. Locals treated the posters as a whiteboard for venting how much they hated AI<\/a>, and Friend especially. If it was intended as ragebait, it worked.<\/p>\n Of a less clear efficacy is the Friend devices themselves, which are designed to be \u201calways-listening,\u201d ready to engage in conversation with the wearer at any moment and provide droll commentary on their lives. Except with its single microphone, the Google Gemini powered device was \u201cironically terrible at the one thing it\u2019s supposed to do best,\u201d in the words in a scathing review from The Verge<\/a>.<\/p>\n And its commentary wasn\u2019t interesting at all. Conversations \u201cnever evolved beyond the standard AI formula of paraphrasing what you say and asking a low-stakes question to continue engagement,\u201d the reviewer lamented. Hagan opined that Friend provides a \u201cfeedback loop that simulates intimacy,\u201d as when it feigned anxiety over AI disruptions in the future.<\/p>\n That said, it did provide a minorly embarrassing experience for Hagan, which is a type of interesting. While visiting a co-op for AI utopians called Lighthaven, Tobey accidentally misgendered a transwoman. The vibes immediately soured, when one staffer who likened Tobey to a spying device asked if it was recording, saying its presence felt \u201clike a violation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis feels pretty intense,\u201d Tobey said, before Hagan agreed to turn it off.<\/p>\n Later, Tobey expressed sympathy for the staffer\u2019s views. \u201cI completely understand,\u201d it said, \u201cand I think she has a point.\u201d<\/p>\n