To the surprise of not a single soul, the backlash that Friend CEO Avi Schiffmann gleefully begged for on his million-dollar subway AI ad campaign has started to wear on him.

In a stunning display of what happens when someone gets stupid prizes after playing stupid games, the 22-year-old Schiffmann lamented that he is “tired of talking to New Yorkers.”

Yes, you read that correctly. The man who dressed an algorithm up as a condescending and anxious imaginary friend in an Apple-meets-Tamagotchi suit is exhausted by interacting in-person with people of the city his ad has been visually assaulting.

Local New York media outlet Gothamist asked Schiffmann to meet up at New York City’s West 4th Street station. Seven train lines converge there, and it houses a concentrated 53 of the more than 11

See Full Page