{"id":216030,"date":"2025-10-11T05:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T05:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/216030\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T05:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T05:08:08","slug":"embattled-ai-startup-friend-pivots-to-website-to-more-easily-exploit-lonely-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/216030\/","title":{"rendered":"Embattled AI Startup ‘Friend’ Pivots to Website to More Easily Exploit Lonely People"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friend has managed to lock down a dubious honor in the nascent artificial-intelligence era: it is perhaps without peer as the most-hated AI device available. After getting its million-dollar ad campaign<\/a> defaced throughout New York City\u2019s subway system, the company is pivoting away from its initial design, a wearable pendant that is always listening to you, to a more traditional web-based chatbot interface<\/a>\u2014presumably in an attempt to get more lonely people hooked on the faux-relationship that it produces in the hope that one day they\u2019ll actually want an ugly necklace.<\/p>\n

The reason for the pivot is probably as simple as the fact that purchasing and wearing an AI pendant creates friction\u2014both monetary, since the company is charging $129 for the always-listening device, and socially, as always-on listening\/recording technology has been getting rejected by the general public ever since people started walking into bars with Google Glass on their heads more than a decade ago<\/a>. The web interface is easier for people to access and lets people start chatting for free.<\/p>\n

Every single available bus shelter in LA is now a friend ad pic.twitter.com\/mnRylr8ElE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Avi (@AviSchiffmann) October 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Friend CEO Avi Schiffmann claimed on X<\/a> that this pivot has already netted the company 200,000 users, though take that number with a pretty massive grain of salt, as it likely accounts for people who have started a chat and offers no evidence of staying power, long-term use, or conversions to pendant purchases. In fact, here\u2019s how loosely Schiffmann uses the term \u201cuser\u201d: When a poster told him<\/a>, \u201cI just sent a message saying \u2018Hi\u2019; I\u2019m neither a user,\u201d the CEO replied<\/a>, \u201cYou have created a friend and have made a memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

When reached for further information about the chatbot\u2019s usage, Friend CEO Avi Schiffmann said, \u201cFuck Gizmodo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to the web-based interface, Schiffmann provided an investor update<\/a> on the pendant business in late September. In it, he revealed that 434 people had activated a \u201cFriend\u201d so far (he classified this in a post as \u201cwe\u2019re now closer to 1,000~ activated friends,\u201d which is technically true in that the number went up, even though 434 is closer to 0 than 1,000). He also noted that \u201cactivated\u201d simply means that a person has sent a single message to a friend. Gizmodo asked Friend for further clarification on how many devices have been sold, and we\u2019ll update this post when we receive a reply.<\/p>\n

Vandalized friend ads at W. 4th subway station pic.twitter.com\/ay1UOcVc68<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 CodeIsTheEnd (@CodeIsTheEnd) September 28, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Schiffmann\u2019s entire marketing strategy seems to be big, kinda meaningless numbers. The company spent $1.8 million<\/a> on the domain friend.com. It spent about $1 million<\/a> on a total takeover ad campaign of the New York City subways. After both purchases, Schiffmann claimed that he spent almost everything he had in the coffers on it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all attention to him, which is really all he\u2019s after\u2014and he\u2019s not afraid to admit it. In response to NYC roundly revolting against his company plastering the subway with ads, he told the New York Times<\/a>, \u201cPeople don\u2019t vandalize an irrelevant ad, right?\u201d When The Atlantic showed him<\/a> one of his ads with the words, \u201cFuck AI\u201d written on it, he said, \u201cI love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also not afraid to lean into hyperbole. He has said<\/a> of talking to the AI chatbot, \u201cI would say that the closest relationship this is equivalent to is talking to a god.\u201d Meanwhile, when given the chance to make some real friends by talking to actual people, Schiffmann told Gothamist<\/a>, \u201cI\u2019m just tired of talking to New Yorkers\u2026It\u2019s just such an ordeal, I just don\u2019t want to do it.\u201d The feeling is probably mutual for most New Yorkers.<\/p>\n