A San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup has plastered 'Stop Hiring Humans' across billboards from California to New York City, and the backlash has been anything but quiet. Artisan AI, which sells AI-powered virtual sales representatives, launched the campaign in October 2024 and has since expanded it to Times Square and bus stops across Manhattan, according to co-founder and CEO Jaspar Carmichael-Jack.
The ads, which also carry slogans such as 'Artisans Won't Complain About Work-Life Balance' and 'Artisans Won't Come into Work Hungover,' were designed specifically to provoke. Carmichael-Jack has acknowledged the strategy openly, telling a reporter: 'The biggest play with the campaign is not actually the people who see it from the street. It's when people take pictures and repost it and share it. That's when we go viral.'
