Friend is an AI startup that is turning to the website to more easily exploit lonely people

Friend has managed to hold a dubious honor in the emerging age of artificial intelligence: perhaps without peer as the most hated AI. After getting it Million dollar advertising campaign Smeared throughout New York City’s subway system, the company is moving away from its initial design, a wearable necklace that’s always listening to you, to A more traditional web-based chatbot interface– Presumably in an attempt to attract more lonely people into the false relationship you produce in the hopes that one day they’ll want the ugly necklace.

Perhaps the reason behind this pivot is as simple as the fact that purchasing and wearing an AI necklace creates friction — both monetary, since the company charges $129 for an always-on listening device, and socially, since the always-listening/recording technology has been rejected by the general public since people began Walking into bars with Google Glass on their heads has been around for over a decade. The web interface is easy for people to access and allows them to start chatting for free.

Every bus shelter available in Los Angeles is now an ad to a friend pic.twitter.com/mnRylr8ElE

– Avi (@AviSchiffmann) October 7, 2025

Friend of CEO Avi Schiffman Claimed on X This pivot has already taken the company to 200,000 users, though don’t overestimate that number, as it likely represents people starting a conversation and provides no evidence of staying power, long-term usage, or conversions to pendant purchases. In fact, here’s how loosely Shiffman uses the term “user”: when he’s a poster He told him“I just sent a message saying ‘Hey,’ I’m not a user,” the CEO said He replied“You made a friend and you made a memory.”

When contacted for more information about using the chatbot, Friend CEO Avi Schiffman said, “Fuck Gizmodo.”

Before the web interface, it was Schiffmann Provided an investor update In the works pending late September. In it he revealed that 434 people have activated a ‘friend’ so far (he labeled this in a post as ‘We’re now closer to 1,000 ~ active friends’, which is technically true as the number has gone up, although 434 is closer to 0 than 1,000). He also noted that “activated” simply means that a person has sent a single message to a friend. Gizmodo asked a friend for further clarification on how many devices were sold, and we’ll update this post when we hear back.

Vandalized Buddy ads at W. 4th subway station pic.twitter.com/ay1UOcVc68

– Code IsTheEnd (@CodeIsTheEnd) September 28, 2025

Shiffman’s entire marketing strategy seems to be big, somewhat meaningless numbers. Company Spent $1.8 million On the domain friends.com. He – she Spent about $1 million In an advertising campaign to completely take over the New York City subway. After the two purchases, Schiffman claimed to have spent almost everything he had in his safes on them.

It’s all about him, which is really all he’s after, and he’s not afraid to admit it. In response to New York City’s all-out revolt against his company covering the subways with ads, he said: He told the New York Times“People don’t sabotage an irrelevant ad, right?” when Show him the Atlantic Ocean In one of his ads with the phrase “Fuck AI,” he said, “I love it.”

He is also not afraid to exaggerate. I have He said On talking to an AI chatbot, “I would say the closest relationship to this is talking to a god.” Meanwhile, when he had the opportunity to make real friends by talking to real people, Shiffman Gothamist said“I’m just tired of talking to New Yorkers…It’s just an ordeal, I don’t want to do that.” For most New Yorkers, the feeling is probably mutual.