*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).
For the first time since September, Bitcoin fell below $40,000 early Monday. The currency's average short-term price has now dipped below its average long-term price, which is known by a rather dramatic term, a death cross. According to analysts, the indicator appears to be a result of mounting concerns of faster liquidity withdrawal by the US Federal Reserve. The crypto slump also follows a week of rough trading for equities overall. CEO Snickerdoodle Labs and Co-Founder of the Stanford Future of Digital Currency Initiative, Jonathan Padilla, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
With the record highs in pet ownership in recent months, there is a huge emerging market in pet technology. The new halo collar isn't just a smart collar; it's the next-generation dog safety system. Cheddar News sits down with the co-founders of Halo, Cesar Milan and Ken Ehrman, to discuss.
With no end in sight to supply chain snarls, some companies are reconsidering the way they manufacture goods. Harry Moser, founder and president of Reshoring Initiative and Jennifer Smith, logistics and supply chain reporter for the Wall Street Journal, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss some of the ways companies are trying to solve their supply chain problems in the long term.
Bitcoin dipped below $40,000 this week amid a broader slump to begin the year. Some speculate that as cryptocurrencies correlate closer to traditional assets that factors like the Federal Reserve tightening monetary policy will weigh on digital coins. Jalak Jobanputra, managing partner at Future Perfect Ventures, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss why crypto markets are feeling pressure from the Fed's potential 2022 rate hikes, broader crypto market predictions, and more.
A.I. startup Fractal has raised $360 million in funding, officially entering the unicorn club. Pranay Agrawal, CEO and Co-Founder of Fractal, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss what the company plans to do with the fresh capital.
Electric vehicles are quickly becoming an accessible way for consumers to slash emissions as legacy automakers begin to electrify their fleets and world leaders including President Joe Biden push for broad EV adoption. But consumers have concerns about EV range, the availability of charging stations, and more. What if it were both helpful to consumers — and feasible from a climate change standpoint — to keep hybrid models that run on gas on the market? Gill Pratt, CEO of the Toyota Research Institute & Toyota Motor Corporation's Chief Scientist joins Cheddar Climate to discuss his team's research about 'carbon return on investment,' how Toyota is electrifying its fleet, and more.
Fresh off of a $42 million Series B Fundraise, co-founder and CEO of Chapter, Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz, joined Cheddar to discuss the company's business model and how it will use the capital going forward. He explained that Chapter is a Medicare advisor that searches savings on medical options in order to help users find the right plan for them. "We want to make sure we can help all of our existing members and as many new Americans find the right Medicare coverage, so we're hiring aggressively for the best talent we can," Blumenfeld-Gantz said.
