It's The End Of Times: The Largest NYC Subway Advertising Campaign Ever Is For A Fake AI Friend You Wear Around Your Neck To Keep You Company

I keep seeing these friend.com ads everywhere and I assumed (incorrectly) it was an NYC start-up to find new best friends, or maybe roommates. Like most ads I haven't cared enough to look it up and just go on with my day. Besides, I'm all set on friends. I have a few and that's good enough for me. Plus, a friend who "never bails on dinner plans" is a shitty friend. Bail, baby! 

But I was wrong. It isn't a start-up to find someone to play intramural soccer with. Nope. It's an...AI necklace you wear to make memories with, a la Black Mirror. For real. 

If you thought you hated it before, just read more!

I also did not realize until just now the person whose tweet I embedded at the top wasn't making fun of it…IT'S HIS COMPANY. Yikes.

This whole concept obviously is sad. It starts with a necklace and will soon enough be AI robots who look like humans. I would have to assume that will happen in the next 10 or so years. I have zero issue with people paying for companionship. The world can be lonely for a lot of people, especially those whose mothers were the queens of the Tylenol factories. But in a society where we're already glued to our phones, our screens, and our algorithms, we are nearing the end of interpersonal communication as we once knew it at a rapid speed. A PENDANT THAT LISTENS TO YOU ISN'T YOUR FRIEND. IT'S FAKE. DON'T LET THEM CONVINCE YOU THAT IT IS YOUR FRIEND. 

What's funny (and I don't mean it in the good way) is there are about 20 Black Mirror episodes about this concept and NONE OF THEM END WELL. None are like "this is a good thing!". The loneliness epidemic is only going to get worse, the birth rate is only going to go down, and nobody is gonna be fuckin' anymore. It's just gonna be TikToks and fake friends until we die. Brace yourself, the end of times is near. Maybe Dante will let me into his bunker?