AI has been rapidly advancing in the past few years and for the most part, I've been fairly unfazed – until now. A series of dystopian pro-AI billboards have been circulating online, promoting artificial employees in place of humans, and they might be the most unintentionally terrifying ads I've ever seen.
While billboard advertising needs to hook in passers-by with bold visuals and clever copy, these creepy ads are drawing people in for all the wrong reasons. As someone who's already on the fence about AI technology, an AI robot lady with laser eyes isn't doing much to convert me.
Human-designed billboard wants people to stop hiring humans… from r/graphic_design
Created by AI platform Artisan, the bizarre ads aim to promote the superiority of an AI-based workforce over human talent. One provocative billboard reads "Stop Hirring Humans Hire Ava, the AI BDR" and features an AI woman with glowing laser eyes. While the ad aims to playfully poke fun at human error, it falls flat with its bizarre dystopian visuals that paint AI assistants as uncanny nightmare fuel.
The image was shared to the r/graphic_design subreddit, where users weighed in on the strange ad. "The irony is that we generally want real humans talking to us, not bots, so a typo is a sign of authenticity" one Redditor commented, while another claimed, "This is the kind of creativity that only humans possess."
So this was a huge booth at entrance of the event. The irony of calling consolidated software artisans 😭 https://t.co/z958biAOfY pic.twitter.com/JdtWT6Z6HfOctober 30, 2024
It turns out the ad is part of Artisan's wider "Stop Hiring Humans" campaign that has been spotted around San Francisco. Another bold ad boasts Artisan's superior "consolidated software powered by artisans" (a.k.a AI dev bots), which struck a nerve with many X users. "This is the worst kind of dystopian nightmare ever to exist in our reality and it's quite shocking to see," one user responded, while another added, "That's gotta be satire, right?"
I’m on team Ava pic.twitter.com/D5Ittp4OQNAugust 2, 2024
For more AI news, check out what the future of AI means for graphic designers. If you're after some slightly less dystopian billboard advertising inspiration, check out the ingenious Tesco billboard that cleverly redesigns its iconic logo.
