A lot of people have been talking about "friend.com" because they spent a ton of money on ads in every major city.
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A lot of people have been talking about "friend.com" because they spent a ton of money on ads in every major city.
The ads are targeting young, early adopter, urban, tech-savy people with modest disposable income.
So me, basically.
And what do they think I want? It's so insulting, LOL. A "friend."
It's an AI assistant device. Makes no sense.
Delighted that these ads are being aggressively defaced. I guess they did "start a buzz" probably not the one they wanted.
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A lot of people have been talking about "friend.com" because they spent a ton of money on ads in every major city.
The ads are targeting young, early adopter, urban, tech-savy people with modest disposable income.
So me, basically.
And what do they think I want? It's so insulting, LOL. A "friend."
It's an AI assistant device. Makes no sense.
Delighted that these ads are being aggressively defaced. I guess they did "start a buzz" probably not the one they wanted.
The 22-year-old AI CEO behind Friend.com necklace welcomes graffiti on his $1 million ad campaign: ‘Capitalism is the greatest artistic medium’ | Fortune
”The audience completes the work,” Avi Schiffmann, creator of the AI wearable, told Fortune. “I purchased the zeitgeist.”
Fortune (fortune.com)
The CEO claims he expected the ads to be defaced. I do not believe this.
**What would you think of someone who had this device on? **
This is supposed to be the trendy new thing to wear. Like a smart watch. But nobody will want to be caught dead with one. (even if they liked the product, which isn't even done yet and sounds awful even if it worked perfectly.)
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The 22-year-old AI CEO behind Friend.com necklace welcomes graffiti on his $1 million ad campaign: ‘Capitalism is the greatest artistic medium’ | Fortune
”The audience completes the work,” Avi Schiffmann, creator of the AI wearable, told Fortune. “I purchased the zeitgeist.”
Fortune (fortune.com)
The CEO claims he expected the ads to be defaced. I do not believe this.
**What would you think of someone who had this device on? **
This is supposed to be the trendy new thing to wear. Like a smart watch. But nobody will want to be caught dead with one. (even if they liked the product, which isn't even done yet and sounds awful even if it worked perfectly.)
Make me a magic phone that has no ads on it. That is the product I want. I don't need to install ad blockers and keep updating them. It just makes every single ad go away.
I would pay for that. That would be the "mental health tech" that I would go for.
Easy right?
LMAO
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Make me a magic phone that has no ads on it. That is the product I want. I don't need to install ad blockers and keep updating them. It just makes every single ad go away.
I would pay for that. That would be the "mental health tech" that I would go for.
Easy right?
LMAO
I do find the style of the ads superficially appealing. I love ads with a lot of white space. But I think that's just because it makes me think maybe I'm not going to have to see an advertisement.
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F myrmepropagandist shared this topic
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I do find the style of the ads superficially appealing. I love ads with a lot of white space. But I think that's just because it makes me think maybe I'm not going to have to see an advertisement.
@futurebird they're targeting lonely people without community or social support. That's not you, but statistically that's most Americans, especially the young ones.
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@futurebird they're targeting lonely people without community or social support. That's not you, but statistically that's most Americans, especially the young ones.
@futurebird it's deeply cynical, and could very possibly work on more people than I'd like to admit.
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@futurebird it's deeply cynical, and could very possibly work on more people than I'd like to admit.
I can't see anyone having that thing on in public. It's the same issue as the glasses with cameras in them. It's spying on everyone with the microphones, and it screams "I HAVE NO FRIENDS"
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I can't see anyone having that thing on in public. It's the same issue as the glasses with cameras in them. It's spying on everyone with the microphones, and it screams "I HAVE NO FRIENDS"
@futurebird I think it's most likely going to fail because our phones already do most of this anyway and existing ai companies have already made friend agents power enough to drive us into psychosis anyway.
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@futurebird it's deeply cynical, and could very possibly work on more people than I'd like to admit.
People would be less lonely if social media were more full of the real people they know and wanted to follow and less full of promoted posts and advertising.
Social media can be a part of a healthy social life. But I think many of the most popular aps have gotten so cluttered and detached from doing that they are making things worse.
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@futurebird I think it's most likely going to fail because our phones already do most of this anyway and existing ai companies have already made friend agents power enough to drive us into psychosis anyway.
This. There is a market for using AI as an unhealthy substitute for real human interaction.
But I think most people won't want to advertise they are doing it with a necklace that makes you look like an escaped patient from a black mirror readjustment clinic.
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This. There is a market for using AI as an unhealthy substitute for real human interaction.
But I think most people won't want to advertise they are doing it with a necklace that makes you look like an escaped patient from a black mirror readjustment clinic.
@futurebird I... Just don't know. It could be a form of self expression for some people. Probably never huge, but, the glasses are coming back successfully. Also apparently in workplace mandates? More surveillance.
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A lot of people have been talking about "friend.com" because they spent a ton of money on ads in every major city.
The ads are targeting young, early adopter, urban, tech-savy people with modest disposable income.
So me, basically.
And what do they think I want? It's so insulting, LOL. A "friend."
It's an AI assistant device. Makes no sense.
Delighted that these ads are being aggressively defaced. I guess they did "start a buzz" probably not the one they wanted.
@futurebird a Guardian reporter spent a week wearing one. it went pretty much as you would expect. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/22/im-suddenly-so-angry-my-strange-unnerving-week-with-an-ai-friend
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A lot of people have been talking about "friend.com" because they spent a ton of money on ads in every major city.
The ads are targeting young, early adopter, urban, tech-savy people with modest disposable income.
So me, basically.
And what do they think I want? It's so insulting, LOL. A "friend."
It's an AI assistant device. Makes no sense.
Delighted that these ads are being aggressively defaced. I guess they did "start a buzz" probably not the one they wanted.
@futurebird There is no such thing as bad publicity.
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@futurebird a Guardian reporter spent a week wearing one. it went pretty much as you would expect. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/22/im-suddenly-so-angry-my-strange-unnerving-week-with-an-ai-friend
“Tell it I don’t want it recording anything I say,” says my (human) friend, Lee.
“Tell him yourself,” I say, holding up Leif to his face. Leif assures Lee that he will only record if I am pressing the button. Everyone agrees they think Leif is lying.
I email Schiffmann to ask him if Leif’s reassurances are true. They’re not. “Friends are always listening,”
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@futurebird I... Just don't know. It could be a form of self expression for some people. Probably never huge, but, the glasses are coming back successfully. Also apparently in workplace mandates? More surveillance.
Ok what if they did a rebrand and made a "chastity friend"
"The Christian AI that keeps you following Jesus."
Might make more headway with that one?
Mike Johnson was bragging about the anti-porn app he and his son had to use together for some reason...
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@futurebird I... Just don't know. It could be a form of self expression for some people. Probably never huge, but, the glasses are coming back successfully. Also apparently in workplace mandates? More surveillance.
@quinn @futurebird I'm gonna need receipts for that "successful smartglasses" thing (I mean, not from you; you're under no obligation to internet randos
) - heck, as far as I can tell not even smartwatches are anywhere close to as successful as Apple clearly thought they would be, even though a lot of people do have them. As for the glasses, I've literally only seen Mark Zuckerberg wear them & I think the only demo for them is people who think MZ is cool. So nobody. -
@quinn @futurebird I'm gonna need receipts for that "successful smartglasses" thing (I mean, not from you; you're under no obligation to internet randos
) - heck, as far as I can tell not even smartwatches are anywhere close to as successful as Apple clearly thought they would be, even though a lot of people do have them. As for the glasses, I've literally only seen Mark Zuckerberg wear them & I think the only demo for them is people who think MZ is cool. So nobody. -
Ok what if they did a rebrand and made a "chastity friend"
"The Christian AI that keeps you following Jesus."
Might make more headway with that one?
Mike Johnson was bragging about the anti-porn app he and his son had to use together for some reason...
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@futurebird There is no such thing as bad publicity.
This is true about 8 times out of 10
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Ok what if they did a rebrand and made a "chastity friend"
"The Christian AI that keeps you following Jesus."
Might make more headway with that one?
Mike Johnson was bragging about the anti-porn app he and his son had to use together for some reason...
