The Friend AI pendant’s creator publicized a ‘Friend protest’ in NYC

If you live in New York City, it’s almost impossible to miss the implications of Friend AI’s pending subway ad — whether you’ve snapped photos of the most inspiring graffiti on ads in the subways, tried to tear your eyes away from the near-constant presence of the device depicted in all the ads inside subway cars, or had a friend text you, “What’s that thing?”

Although Friend was founded in 2023, the $129 chatbot-enabled necklaces only started shipping this summer, and the accompanying Subway ad campaign — which cost the company more than $1 million, roughly the equivalent of its domain name — debuted last month. Reviews have painted a picture of a device that can make people uncomfortable and often doesn’t do well at what it’s supposed to do (for example, listen to your conversations and the events of your day and provide quips and comments).

On the same weekend that saw “No Kings” protests around the world, there was also a Friends protest of sorts. A friend of the founder, Avi Schiffman, posted a photo of a recorded flyer depicting the device, which read: “I hear you New Yorkers are against me. Let’s break this down once and for all, before we go bankrupt.” The flyer also specified a time and place to meet, as well as a handwritten message, “Bring your own markers.”

Based on photos and videos that probably Sunday’s “event” was not created by Sora, it actually happened. Shiffman’s post shows people using Sharpies to deface a friend’s sign, including one person writing, “Fuck AI”; A chalk drawing of a sad-faced friend’s device; It appears that people are playing basketball while holding a piece of paper or cardboard cut out of the buddy machine.

Schiffman said that when contacted for comment on whether Friend had organized the protest and whether or not those attending were organic, Edge He had no role in planning the event, adding that he took a flight to New York to be there because people sent him pictures of the ads.

“During the event I was on stage talking to the audience, and later that night I found them in the park and we all sat in a big circle and talked. They were all very serious,” he wrote. “I found it to be a productive conversation and we all shook hands at the end. It was a real protest for sure.”

Schiffman also posted a photo in which he appeared to have signed a handwritten document stating that he “will not sell friends.com” to CEOs of major tech companies for “surveillance purposes.”

Another video in the thread shows people grabbing the cut paper from the machine and tearing it apart as the crowd chants: “Get real friends.” After the free-for-all ripping ended, people shouted, “Get that shit out of here” and “Fuck the AI.”

In short: New Yorkers don’t take kindly to overly enthusiastic subway ads — especially if they’re about AI being an acceptable alternative to a “friend.” And for Friend’s CEO, that’s still better than not caring at all.