In a bold move, an AI startup Artisan has launched a controversial advertising campaign in San Francisco. The campaign’s central message, “Stop Hiring Humans,” has been plastered on billboards across the city.
Artisan’s ad campaign, featuring billboards with slogans like “Artisans won’t complain about work-life balance” and “Artisan’s Zoom cameras will ‘not be working’ today,” aims to promote its AI-powered sales agent. These ads, often paired with an uncanny human-like persona named “Ava,” declare, “The Era of AI Employees is Here.” However, it’s the “Stop Hiring Humans” tagline that has captured the most attention—and criticism.
Reactions have been swift and overwhelmingly negative. Creative Bloq labeled the campaign a “dystopian nightmare,” while social media users voiced their frustration and disbelief. One viral post highlighted the juxtaposition of the ad with a homeless man nearby, emphasizing the insensitivity of such messaging in a city grappling with a severe housing crisis and economic inequality.
Artisan’s 23-year-old CEO, Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, seems to relish the campaign’s notoriety. In an interview with SFGate, he acknowledged the dystopian tone of the ads, stating, “They are somewhat dystopian, but so is AI. The way the world works is changing.” Despite the inflammatory messaging, Carmichael-Jack insisted in a separate interview with the San Francisco Chronicle that his company values human workers, stating, “We love humans. I don’t think people should stop hiring humans. We’re hiring a lot of humans right now.”
The campaign’s ultimate goal appears to be “rage bait,” and by that measure, it has succeeded. Carmichael-Jack admitted that Artisan has seen a dramatic increase in brand awareness and a spike in sales following the campaign.
“We wanted something that would draw eyes—you don’t draw eyes with boring messaging,” he told SFGate.
This unapologetically brash approach lays bare the underlying ethos of certain sectors in the tech industry. While companies often mask their drive toward automation with more palatable language, Artisan’s campaign strips away the veneer, exposing a reality that many fear: a future where human labor is increasingly sidelined in favor of AI systems.
