AI Startup's "Stop Hiring Humans" Ad Campaign Sparks Controversy in San Francisco

Humans Alarmed at AI Company's "Stop Hiring Humans" Billboards

An AI startup called Artisan has managed to irritate virtually everybody with a controversial ad campaign in San Francisco, which has littered the city with billboards reading "Stop Hiring Humans." As you may have guessed, Artisan peddles automation -- specifically, in the form of an AI "sales agent," which is also called Artisan. Along with its tagline suggesting human workers are obsolete, other ads from the company include eye-rolling lines like "Artisans won't complain about work-life balance," and "Artisan's Zoom cameras will never 'not be working' today." These are sometimes accompanied by the message: "The Era of AI Employees is Here." But it's the "Stop Hiring Humans" ads that have really stuck -- and are getting the biggest ad spots. Numerous large billboards and posters are plastered with the tagline, often with the uncanny likeness of a woman, which is supposed to be one of the AI's humanlike personas, "Ava." Indeed, the whole thing is flagrantly misanthropic even by Silicon Valley's standards. San Francisco, like other cities part of the tech locus, has a large population of homeless and continues to be deep in the throes of a housing crisis (one image that's caught particular flak, shown above, shows a bedraggled-looking man next to one of the signs). Flippantly calling for you to remain jobless strikes the wrong tone, to say the least. Artisan CEO Jaspar Carmichael-Jack seems to agree with people's cyberpunk characterization of his ads (though "cyber-LinkedIn" might be more apt). "We love humans," he told the newspaper, laughing. "I actually don't think people should stop hiring humans. We're hiring a lot of humans right now." The depressing thing: the stunt worked. Per SFGate, Carmichael-Jack said that Artisan has seen a "crazy escalation" in its brand awareness and a spike in sales. "We wanted something that would draw eyes -- you don't draw eyes with boring messaging," the CEO told SFGate. And he's certainly right in that regard. He's ditched "boring," in favor of making it loud and clear what the management class really wants: taking humans out of the equation wherever possible. This is the enthymeme that the monoliths of the tech industry dance around and dress up with all kinds of marketing language, and for good reason. As Artisan has demonstrated, if these companies were more upfront with their intentions with AI -- and their attitude towards us lowly human peons -- they'd face outrage like this at every turn; already, someone has smashed and torn down an Artisan bus stop poster.

AI Firm's 'Stop Hiring Humans' Billboard Campaign Sparks Outrage

People are predictably unhappy about being told they don't deserve jobs. In San Francisco, the heart of Silicon Valley, an AI startup called Artisan has spent an untold sum blitzing the city with an advertising campaign that dispenses with the need for humanity. Artisan's tagline: "Stop Hiring Humans." The company, which is backed by startup accelerator Y-Combinator, sells what it calls "AI Employees" or "Artisans." What the company actually sells is software designed to assist with customer service and sales workflow. The company appears to have done an internal pow-wow and decided that the most effective way to promote its relatively mundane product was to fund an ad campaign heralding the end of the human age. Writing about the ad campaign, local outlet SFGate notes that the postersâ€"which are strewn all over the cityâ€"include plugs like the following: “Artisans won’t complain about work-life balance†“Artisan’s Zoom cameras will never â€~not be working’ today.†“Hire Artisans, not humans.†“The era of AI employees is here.†Yes, grim stuff. At first glance, you might wonder who the target audience for these billboards is. After all, the billboards will mostly be viewed by humans, and, as far as can be discerned, most humans enjoy being employed. As such, it's a media campaign that would seem to discriminate against its core audience. Yet beneath the initial ridiculousness of it all, there is an obvious explanation: the ads are designed to make people mad and, thus, grab headlines. In an interview with SFGate, the company's CEO, Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, defended his company's decision to advertise its product by promoting the end of the human labor force. “They are somewhat dystopian, but so is AI,†the CEO told the outlet, of the ads. “The way the world works is changing.†He added: “We wanted something that would draw eyes â€" you don’t draw eyes with boring messaging." Yes, Carmichael-Jack was clearly trying to tap into Americans' outrage over AIâ€"and he has succeeded. I am writing about him, after all. He has effectively banked the predictable outrage that his media campaign was designed to inspire and is now being interviewed by journalists. Yet, in very much the same way that he is currently using us to promote his company, maybe we can use Carmichael-Jack to make a point. It is Carmichael-Jackson's admission that his billboards are "dystopian"â€"just like the product he's sellingâ€"that gets to the heart of what is so fucked up about the whole thing. It's obvious that Silicon Valley's code monkeys now embrace a fatalistic bent of history towards the Bladerunner-style hellscape their market imperatives are driving us. They're through with acting like they're making the world a better place. If it gets in the way of making money, there's no point in even pretending.

AI startup ad campaign urges us to "stop hiring humans"

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. WTF?! Most artificial intelligence companies don't like to publicize the fact that generative AI is going to cost a lot of jobs. They tend to talk about how it assists people, allowing them to do other tasks (looking for another job as they're about to be fired, for example). But a San Francisco AI startup isn't hiding the truth with an advertising campaign that has the tagline, "Stop Hiring Humans." Unsurprisingly, a lot of people aren't happy about it. Backed by startup accelerator Y-Combinator, Artisan sells customer service and sales workflow software. It's one of several companies that sells products it describes as AI employees, or "Artisans," in this case. AI agents taking human jobs is a contentious topic, one which companies behind the technology tend not to discuss. However, Artisan is not only pushing this element as the company's main selling point in its San Francisco ads, it's also doing so by highlighting how AI is better than lazy, stupid people who like a drink. One poster gleefully exclaims that Artisans won't complain about work-life balance or come into work hungover, another states that Artisan's Zoom cameras will never 'not be working' today. "Hire Artisans, not humans," is one soullessly crushing tagline. "The era of AI employees is here," is another. The most on-the-nose is simply "stop hiring humans," which makes one wonder if any humans work at Artisan - SFGate reports that it has 30 employees and is less than two years old, so perhaps some of them will find themselves replaced by an AI soon. Artisan's Ava sales agent is said to have a distinct personality, participate in Slack meetings, and improve its performance over time, all without human input. The company emphasizes that Ava costs 96% less than hiring someone to do the same job. Ava appears to be the only Artisan right now, though there are plans for more and to expand outside of sales to marketing, recruitment, finance, and design. Artisan CEO Jaspar Carmichael-Jack defended the ads. He told SFGate that they "are somewhat dystopian, but so is AI." "The way the world works is changing." He added: "We wanted something that would draw eyes - you don't draw eyes with boring messaging." It's all arguably top-level trolling on Artisan's part, and it's certainly helped the startup get plenty of attention. It could backfire, of course, especially if potential customers fear reputational damage from being associated with a company that's riled so many people.

Billboards Around San Francisco Urge You to 'Stop Hiring Humans'

A San Francisco startup has plastered the city with controversial billboards urging companies to replace people with "AI employees." Artisan AI has emblazoned the ads on bus shelters, on the side of buildings, and on classic billboards above freeways. The ads which feature a humanized AI bot called "Ava" have various messages attached to them including "Hire Artisans, not humans"; "Aritsan's Zoom cameras will never 'not be working' today"; "Artisans won't complain about work-life balance"; and "Hire Arisans, not humans." The controversial campaign has ruffled locals' feathers with some taking to Reddit with the title, "Human-designed billboard wants people to stop hiring humans..." Gizmodo notes that Artisan AI sells software that assists with customer service and sales workflow. The company says its "sales agent" tool works with "no human input" and "costs 96 percent less" than hiring a human to do the same job. The company's CEO Jaspar Carmichael-Jack defended his company's marketing blitz that has the tagline: "Stop Hiring Humans." Many of the ads feature a human figure called "Ava" which Artisans says will herald the "beginning of the next industrial revolution." "People still want to work with humans, and working with our Ava feels more like working with a human than a [software-as-a-service] product, so it makes sense for us to humanize her," Carmichael-Jack tells SFGate. The clever marketing campaign by Artisan is designed to irritate. Fears that AI will take over are keenly felt; no more so than in photography. Earlier today, PetaPixel exclusively interviewed a Shutterstock director who sought to reassure photographers by saying photographers have a "vital role" to play in the future of AI technology. Essentially, generative AI will always need fresh content if it is to remain relevant.

AI company trolls San Francisco with billboards saying "stop hiring humans"

Since the dawn of the generative AI era a few years ago, the march of technology -- toward what tech companies hope will replace human intellectual labor -- has continuously sparked angst about the future role humans will play in the job market. Will we all be replaced by machines? A Y-Combinator-backed company called Artisan, which sells customer service and sales workflow software, recently launched a provocative billboard campaign in San Francisco playing on that angst, reports Gizmodo. It features the slogan "Stop Hiring Humans." The company markets its software products as "AI Employees" or "Artisans." The company's billboards feature messages that might inspire nightmares among workers, like "Artisans won't complain about work-life balance" and "The era of AI employees is here." And they're on display to the same human workforce the ads suggest replacing. The reaction to the ads online has been largely negative. Last week, a Bluesky user named SpacePrez posted one of the billboards on the social media site simply with the comment, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH." It currently has over 2,000 likes. On Reddit, a thread featuring the ads filled with pessimistic commentary on life in San Francisco, including comments like, "It's close to full Cyberpunk dystopia over here when we have self driving Waymo's driving through neighborhoods with tent cities where apartments cost $4k a month."

Artisan's AI Billboard Campaign Sparks Debate in San Francisco

Artisan, a tech start-up based in San Francisco and financed by Y-Combinator, produced a recent billboard in San Francisco that caused much controversy about the future of AI in the workforce. Following the "Stop Hiring Humans" strategy, the company offers AI-based software products to replace typical human positions like customer service, sales, call centres, and others with AI Employees called "Artisans." These words can provoke and get attention and cause various degrees of concern from city dwellers and online audiences. Artisan's chief executive, Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, said the stark nature of the advertisements was created solely to spark a discussion about society and the future of technology and work. Mottos like "Artisans won't complain about work-life balance" or "The era of AI employees is here" are not mere promotions. They are a continuation of a more general discussion regarding the role of AI in everyday activity and work.

'Anti-human' pro-AI billboards spark public outrage

Last month I was suitably disturbed by a series of dystopian billboards cropping up around San Fransisco that promoted hiring AI over humans. The campaign was so egregiously provocative that it bordered on parody - a near-perfect reflection of the AI existentialism among creatives, seemingly proving that we're one step closer to an all-out AI takeover. Rationally I can see that AI is here to stay - with countless AI productivity tools at our fingertips the technology will inevitably bleed into many of our everyday practices. Despite this, these striking billboards have sparked outrage among many onlookers (understandably so), but I suspect that's their exact purpose. There's no such thing as bad publicity, right? At least the company's CEO seems to think so. The company behind the controversial billboards is Artisan, an AI platform specialising in providing clients with AI employees. With goading copy like "Artisans won't come into work hungover" and "Artisans won't complain about work-life balance", it's clear that the billboards were designed with a purpose to challenge, provoke and offend. There's a desperate palpable irony to the campaign, even down to the company name "Artisan" synonymous with skilled human crafters who create by hand - a far cry from the company's AI drones. It's unsurprising that as more billboards appeared, heated backlash soon followed. On Bluesky user @spaceprez.bsky.social‬ shared one of the controversial ads, sparking outrage from followers. "This could be straight out of a Black Mirror episode," one user commented, while another added, "This makes me want to scream and throw bricks at it." Scathing responses continued on X, where @TMisGlitching called the ads an "anti-human publicity campaign". The mastermind behind the controversial campaign is 23-year-old founder and CEO Jaspar Carmichael-Jack who appears suitably unphased by the backlash. Speaking to SFGate, Jasper says "We wanted something that would draw eyes - you don't draw eyes with boring messaging." Regarding the ads, the CEO acknowledged "They are somewhat dystopian, but so is AI," suggesting that the provocative copy is merely a stark reflection of reality. Regardless, the ads served their purpose. Outrage equates to engagement - something that Jack is all too familiar with. In a LinkedIn post regarding Artisan's viral Reddit rage bait post, Jack acknowledges his "shameless marketing" tactics, writing "The truth is that nobody cares about what you're doing unless you give them a reason to care. [...] Make noise, and people will listen." While I'd typically prioritise crafting a meaningful statement rather than 'making noise' when it comes to marketing, Jack's sensationalist approach has caused growth in the company. If you've found yourself frustrated by Artisan's provocative campaign it's almost inevitable - they're manufactured as rage bait and the company thrives from the backlash. Despite this, artists are increasingly standing up for their rights against AI threats while professionals recently flocked to sign an open letter protesting 'unethical' AI practices, proving there are ongoing practical efforts to regulate AI usage in the creative industries. There's little we can do to stop this kind of desperate hate-fuel marketing, but as a creative community, we can choose to focus on what's important and give space to the causes that truly matter.