The Friend Device - it raises so many questions.

With the very recent announcement of the release of the Friend device we had a quick discussion in the Path Dependence offices of all the possible questions this raises. Some of these should be asked of the manufacturer, but many will need to be answered by people and employers in their day to day lives.

If this is all news to you, do take a look at the Friend website and watch their release video first.

This immediately raises a whole set of questions, and this is only our first pass.

( as always, if you want to explore these kind of innovations in a narrative setting, either that's something I can do, or I can find you the right person for future thinking and designs )

A lot of these questions might already be answered by the use of smart watches, which I'm unfamiliar with, and I've been working very remotely for some time. So pointers to brief and useful documentation is welcome. Also the Aibo dog ( pictured above ) is a predecessor to the kind of impact this device may have on people's lives.

With a history in cyber security our first questions are around authentication:

Security?

• How does authentication work for submitting a question?
• Can the device be interviewed or interrogated?
• Can it or its logs be, well, subpoenaed?
• Would it be legal to imitate the Friend's user to obtain information from the device?

Where is appropriate?

But there's so much more to consider here. Where would it be legal or illegal, ethical or unethical, to wear a device that's always on in the following locations?

• Toilets?
• Secure workplaces dealing with classified information?
• Other workplaces which still contain company confidential information?
• Where minors are present? And does it depend if its owned or worn by a minor? ( I don't yet see Terms and Conditions for the device ).
• Locations where people who can't consent are present, such as hospitals; especially somewhere like in surgery.
• Similarly, care homes.
• At what state of a relationship, both in closeness and in activity, do you wear or not wear the device?

There's so much more beyond that - I'm sure you have examples from your own life. Where else do you go that is kind of public, but this device stretches the definition. One place that came to mind is courts, and all the associated private discussions.

What is a Friend?

And such a device, with the connotations of a close and always present friend, yet being a device, raises many other questions. Especially as the device is portrayed as a being part of your life, and the FAQ specifically states that it cannot be replaced.

• If it's not permitted in an area, where and how is something so small, and apparently visually generic, kept securely outside those areas?
• As it's irreplaceable, and yet so small and discreet, would it be possible to take it hostage?
• What is the physical integrity and the battery life of the device like? Humans are prone to become attached to objects they can anthropomorphise, this so-called "crouton petting" is lovely but can lead to all sorts of issues.
• There are similar questions with regard to its resilience to magnetic fields, or weather, considering it's worn on the outside of clothing.
• With or without the intention of the manufacturer, can it be cloned?
• Can friends talk to each other? Can they be deceived into talking to each other? Friend is reported to be aiming for a social network for both real-life and AI friends.
• How long is the "context window" for the device?
• If someone steals your friend, can they wipe and use it themselves? If your friend breaks, can you steal someone else's and hack it to replace yours?
• What is the expected lifespan of the Friend? Do we have a Bladerunner Replicant situation?

And lastly, the device has no subscription model but will undoubtedly uses subscription based services. How viable is this as something to become emotionally invested in? Or what happens when your Friendship now requires a subscription to stay as your friend?

As always, the future is even more "interesting" than many of us imagined....