The AI companion startup Friend has relaunched its wearable pendant, now featuring a built-in speaker that can actually talk back to you. Friend, the company behind this clip-on AI pendant, introduced its second-generation device this week. While the original Friend pendant only listened, the new version—unofficially dubbed Friend 2—can speak out loud. The original pendant was primarily a listening device—it heard your surroundings and sent responses to your phone. Other AI companion apps like Character.ai and Replika gained large user bases partly because they allowed people to shape their AI companions.