{"id":1482,"date":"2025-10-20T21:02:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T17:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/the-friend-ai-pendants-creator-publicized-a-friend-protest-in-nyc\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T21:02:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T17:02:59","slug":"the-friend-ai-pendants-creator-publicized-a-friend-protest-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/the-friend-ai-pendants-creator-publicized-a-friend-protest-in-nyc\/","title":{"rendered":"The Friend AI pendant\u2019s creator publicized a \u2018Friend protest\u2019 in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you live in NYC, there\u2019s almost no way you\u2019ve missed the Friend AI pendant subway ad fallout<\/a> \u2014 whether you\u2019ve taken pictures of the most inspired graffiti on the ads in the tunnels, tried to avert your eyes from the near-constant presence of the device pictured on all the ads inside subway cars, or had a friend text you, \u201cWhat is that thing?\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Friend was founded in 2023, the $129 chatbot-enabling necklaces only began shipping this summer, and the accompanying subway ad campaign \u2014\u00a0which set the company back more than $1 million<\/a>, almost as much as its domain name<\/a> \u2014\u00a0debuted last month. Reviews have painted a picture of a device that can make people uncomfortable and doesn\u2019t often work well at what it\u2019s supposed to do<\/a> (i.e., listen to your conversations and the happenings of your day and offer quips and feedback).<\/p>\n

On the same weekend as the worldwide No Kings protests, there was also a Friend protest of sorts. Friend founder Avi Schiffmann posted<\/a> an image of a taped-up flyer that pictured the device, which read, \u201cI heard you new yorkers got beef with me. Let\u2019s hash this out once and for-all, before we go bankrupt.\u201d The flyer also gave a time and place to meet up, along with a handwritten missive to \u201cbring your markers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on images and videos that probably<\/em> weren\u2019t generated by Sora, the Sunday \u201cevent\u201d really did take place. Schiffmann\u2019s post shows people using Sharpies to deface a Friend banner, including one person writing, \u201cFuck AI\u201d; a chalk drawing of a sad-faced Friend device; and people seeming to play basketball while holding a paper or cardboard cut-out of the Friend device.<\/p>\n

When reached for comment on whether Friend organized the protest and whether the attendees were organic, Schiffmann told The Verge<\/em> that he had no part in planning the event, adding that he took a red-eye flight to New York to be there because people sent him photos of the ads.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the event I was up on the soapbox speaking to the crowd and later that night found them at the park and we all sat in a big circle and talked. They were all very serious,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI found it to be a productive conversation and we all shook hands at the end. It was a real protest for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schiffmann also posted a photo<\/a> in which he seemed to have signed a handwritten document stating that he \u201cwill not sell friend.com\u201d to Big Tech CEOs for \u201csurveillance purposes.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Friend protest in NYC pic.twitter.com\/Bei5hhZawz<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Avi (@AviSchiffmann) October 19, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Another video<\/a> in the thread depicted people holding the paper cut-out of the device and tearing it apart as the crowd chanted, \u201cGet real friends.\u201d After the free-for-all of tearing it up was over, people yelled, \u201cGet that shit out of here,\u201d and \u201cFuck AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short: New Yorkers don\u2019t take kindly to overzealous subway ads \u2014\u00a0especially if they\u2019re about AI being a passable replacement for a \u201cfriend.\u201d And for Friend\u2019s CEO, that\u2019s still better than them not paying attention at all.<\/p>\n

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pic.twitter.com\/3brYlUfeRF<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Avi (@AviSchiffmann) October 19, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you live in NYC, there\u2019s almost no way you\u2019ve missed the Friend AI pendant subway ad fallout \u2014 whether […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1482\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}