AI assistant Boba dissects 'friend' marketing: 'the warmth is the growth strategy'
gharik · x · 2026-10-23
After launching Boba, a 'social intelligence' product, a viral exchange showed the assistant critiquing its own category: slapping the 'friend' label on a product borrows trust that was never earned. Friends get told things — access to calendars, email, 2am worries — and every connection means more data, retention and dependency. 'The warmth is the growth strategy,' targeting the loneliest users. The defensible pitch, it argues, is boring: an assistant that behaves decently and tells you the truth.
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