I'm not a aikido-ist, but I've had some friends who were very high level. They explained to me the origin of aikido was as a technique that policemen could use with plausible deniability. When people watch someone fight against an aikido-ist they see: "The guy charged at him and something happened and then the guy ran right into that lamp post and knocked himself out".
Whether that is really true, or I misinterpreted what I was told, I'm not sure, but I always find it an amusing thought.
I hope for your friend's sake that they just misinterpreted the origin.
Aikido has a Paul Bunyan creator that I would say is analogous to Yoda. He was from the stories I heard, from a direct student of his Roy Suenaka of Wadokai Aikido, pretty much a modern Miyamoto Musashi and I'm sure no one will ever get completely true stories today. He started his life as a farmer, served in the Japanese Army during WW2, and had a spiritual awakening eventually leading to the creation of Aikido. He's an interesting person due to when he lived and the life he lived.
Aikido has soft (spiritual) and hard (martial) techniques. A lot of sensei's only subscribe to one or the other and there are two major societies, Ki and Aikikai. When I practiced, we subscribed to both, so we even made use of things like choke holds and punches to initiate.
One of the things I enjoy about Aikido is that many of the techniques have "nice" and "not so nice" variations. The ikkyo technique can put an opponent on the ground with a minimal amount of pain. The nikyo technique is similar in some ways but can hurt a heck of a lot more because of the way the wrist is manipulated. I am guessing your friend(s) was illustrating that aikido has some nice ways of inducing compliance and some "not so nice" wrist breaking ways of inducing compliance.
Whether that is really true, or I misinterpreted what I was told, I'm not sure, but I always find it an amusing thought.