If you take the subway in New York City, or drive a car in Los Angeles, you’ve seen the ads for friend.com.

“I’ll binge the entire series with you.”

“I’ll never leave dirty dishes in the sink.”

“I’ll never bail on dinner plans.”

The slogans are simple, intimate, needy and impossible to avoid. Friend.com is the biggest campaign in the New York City subway this year, according to OUTFRONT, an MTA billboard marketing agency.

The AI wearable has 11,000 “always on” advertisements in the MTA, some covering a whole train station. Avi Schiffmann, the 22-year-old founder and creator of Friend, told Fortune that it cost him $1 million —an enormous outlay for a startup with barely $7 million in venture capital.

The product itself is simple: a microphone, a Bluetooth chip, and an always-listen

See Full Page