The AI necklace that a chunk of New York wanted gone is back, and this time it talks. The new version, which founder Avi Schiffmann is calling “Friend 2.0,” adds spoken replies. Friend’s memories of you last just 30 days unless you pay $9.99 a month to keep them. About nine months ago, protesters gathered to rail against the ads and the broader creep of always-on AI into human relationships. Critics of these devices, including Signal’s Meredith Whittaker, keep making the same point: AI chatbots are not friends.