Embattled AI Startup ‘Friend’ Pivots to Website to More Easily Exploit Lonely People

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 defaced throughout New York City’s 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—presumably in an attempt to get more lonely people hooked on the faux-relationship that it produces in the hope that one day they’ll actually want an ugly necklace.

The reason for the pivot is probably as simple as the fact that purchasing and wearing an AI pendant creates friction—both 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. The web interface is easier for people to access and lets people start chatting for free.

Every single available bus shelter in LA is now a friend ad pic.twitter.com/mnRylr8ElE

— Avi (@AviSchiffmann) October 7, 2025

Friend CEO Avi Schiffmann claimed on X 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’s how loosely Schiffmann uses the term “user”: When a poster told him, “I just sent a message saying ‘Hi’; I’m neither a user,” the CEO replied, “You have created a friend and have made a memory.”

Gizmodo reached out to Friend for further information about the chatbot’s usage, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Prior to the web-based interface, Schiffmann provided an investor update on the pendant business in late September. In it, he revealed that 434 people had activated a “Friend” so far (he classified this in a post as “we’re now closer to 1,000~ activated friends,” which is technically true in that the number went up, even though 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 Friend for further clarification on how many devices have been sold, and we’ll update this post when we receive a reply.

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

— CodeIsTheEnd (@CodeIsTheEnd) September 28, 2025

Schiffmann’s entire marketing strategy seems to be big, kinda meaningless numbers. The company spent $1.8 million on the domain friend.com. It spent about $1 million 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.

It’s all attention to him, which is really all he’s after—and he’s 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, “People don’t vandalize an irrelevant ad, right?” When The Atlantic showed him one of his ads with the words, “Fuck AI” written on it, he said, “I love it.”

He’s also not afraid to lean into hyperbole. He has said of talking to the AI chatbot, “I would say that the closest relationship this is equivalent to is talking to a god.” Meanwhile, when given the chance to make some real friends by talking to actual people, Schiffmann told Gothamist, “I’m just tired of talking to New Yorkers…It’s just such an ordeal, I just don’t want to do it.” The feeling is probably mutual for most New Yorkers.