*By Madison Alworth*
Siri can play your jam on demand and Alexa gives you the weather, but the app makers behind Hugging Face really want to be there for you when you need a laugh, some encouragement, or friendly advice.
That's the promise of the artificial intelligence chatbot, designed to exchange messages, emojis, and life lessons with a generation of users desperate for a response whenever they text ー teenagers.
"Ultimately, we think that everyone will chat with an A.I. everyday, all day," said Clément Delangue, a co-founder and the CEO of Hugging Face. "But as for most new technology and mainstream technologies, they were the first to adopt it."
Though teenagers may be the first cohort willing to accept A.I. B.F.F.s, Delangue said anyone can befriend Hugging Face, which will attempt to respond to text queries with personalized responses as the app begins to "care" about you, but not exactly the way a human might.
"A dog, a cat is a different form of intelligence. It's not a human form of intelligence," Delangue said in an interview Tuesday with Cheddar. "But you really enjoy playing with your cat or with your dog every day, and you create some form of emotional attachment."
Hugging Face is designed to mimic this sort of unconditional relationship using A.I.
"We think the same thing is going to happen for artificial intelligence, meaning everyone will have their A.I. B.F.F. that they're going to chat with every day," Delangue said.
Hugging Face has already made some well-heeled friends. It raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding last year and recently raised $4 million in a seed round led by Ronny Conway of a_capital, an early investor in Instagram. Delangue said that the investments will help the company to develop its technology without worrying about having to make money for the next few years.
Hugging Face is available as a stand-alone app and as an add-on for Facebook Messenger.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/new-chatbot-wants-to-be-your-bff).
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: President of The Pillow Bar breaks down how everyone can benefit from a pillow customized to their unique way of sleeping; CEO of H2Pro explains how to bring environmentally friendly hydrogen to scale; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Suppressed Science.'
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: Gardenuity CEO breaks down how gardening can improve your wellbeing; Augmedix CEO discusses how this technology is helping doctors fight burnout; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Suppressed Science.'
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: Atom Limbs CEO breaks down how the Atom Touch prosthetic is different from other prosthetics on the market; CEO & Chief Scientific Officer of MyMD explains how the MYMD-1 is on track to be the first FDA-approved drug to treat aging and age-related diseases; A look at Curiosity Stream's 'The Future of Warfare.'
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: SkilsVR CEO explains how virtual reality is being used to train frontline workers to handle difficult customers; Rubicon CEO breaks down how technology and sustainability will go hand in hand in the future; Cheddar gets a look at 'Our Infinite Universe.'
As Russian forces invade Ukraine, millions of dollars in cryptocurrency has flowed into the country to lend support. Russian citizens are also seeing the appeal after sanctions have made their traditional banks unreliable. Robbie Heeger, president and CEO of Endaoment, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Amazon unveiled its new mobile app called Amp as a direct competitor to Clubhouse, allowing people to host live radio shows. Although it is still in beta, users can join the waitlist from the iOS store.
The war in Ukraine continues to reveal heartbreaking gut-wrenching stories. The war in itself is not only devastating but also expensive. Experts estimate that Russia is draining nearly $20 million dollars each day to continue occupying and invading Ukraine. All this could force the country to turn to cryptocurrencies. It's a major turn for the country that briefly considered outlined digital assets entirely, but it could also have serious implications for cryptos. Managing Director at Quantum Fintech Group, Harry Yeh, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
