Vandals deface ads for AI necklaces that listen to all your conversations

"AI doesn't care," a vandal scrawled on a New York subway ad promoting a wearable AI pendant called Friend, which was designed to monitor a user's everyday conversations and serve as a companion "who listens, responds, and supports you."

"Human connection is sacred," the vandal wrote, emphasizing, "AI is not your friend."

This act of vandalism is now part of a huge online archive collecting defaced ads that the Friend campaign inspired, as many New Yorkers responded with vitriol to marketing claims that the AI "friend" would never "bail on dinner" or abandon you to ride the subway alone.

"Friends don't let friends sell their souls," another vandal wrote.

Others criticizing the AI pendant—which sells for $129 and will be available in Walmart stores soon—used the ads to lob larger political complaints about AI. For example, on an ad suggesting an AI friend would "never leave dirty dishes in the sink," a vandal called out AI data centers like xAI's for "poisoning black communities." Another wrote that "freely giving your personal info to Big Tech won't heal your wounds," urging subway riders to join the backlash against Palantir, which The Guardian reported uses AI to surveil individuals and identify military targets.

A review of the archive shows that much of the criticism focused on the potential for the pendant to spy on users. "AI surveillance slop," one vandal summed it up, while another defaced an ad promising "I'll binge the entire series with you" to say "I'll steal your info, steal your data, steal your identity."

According to The New York Times, over the past six weeks, the Friend ads have become "one of the most talked about subway marketing campaigns in recent memory," after 22-year-old Friend founder Avi Schiffmann paid less than $1 million to flood MTA subway cars with ads across New York. Since its rollout in New York, the campaign has spread to Los Angeles, and Chicago will be next, but MTA subway cars were targeted first to drive as much hype as possible, Schiffman confirmed.

"Only the MTA allows you to buy a full takeover like that," Schiffman told the NYT. "It almost feels illegal."