After a reveal trailer for the device was released on July 30th, 2024, the startup became a subject of memes and discussions, with the founder spending $1.8 million of the initial investment to acquire the Friend.com domain name, spawning jokes and memes. In late September and early October 2025, Friend AI kicked off a $1 million ad campaign in the New York City subway system, with the company's CEO, Avi Schiffmann, telling Adweek about the campaign, "This is the world’s first major AI campaign. On September 25th, Schiffmann tweeted about the start of the campaign, claiming it was the "Largest NYC subway campaign ever," receiving over 25.4 million views, 3,800 likes, 2,100 retweets and 990 replies in a week.