'Stop hiring humans': AI company Artisan launches Times Square billboard campaign

A San Francisco-based AI startup has launched a controversial advertising campaign in New York City urging companies to replace human workers with artificial intelligence.

Artisan AI, which develops AI-powered virtual employees such as sales representatives, is behind the campaign. The company plastered provocative messages across Times Square and Midtown bus stops, including billboards that read “Stop hiring humans. AI employees are here” and “Your next BDR (business development rep) isn’t human.”

According to a report by the New York Post, the campaign originally launched in California last year and expanded to New York last month. Artisan AI co-founder and CEO Jaspar Carmichael-Jack told the outlet that the company spent under $50,000 on the ads across Manhattan, which were intended to go viral online.

“The biggest play with the campaign is not actually the people who see it from the street,” Carmichael-Jack said. “It’s when people take pictures and repost it and share it. That’s when we go viral.”

Artisan’s earlier marketing used more generic slogans like “Be more productive” and “Upskill with AI,” but they failed to gain widespread attention. The company has since leaned into more controversial language, including “Stop hiring humans,” “Artisans won’t complain about work-life balance,” and “Artisans won’t come into work hungover.”

“It’s designed to start conversation and stir public interest,” Carmichael-Jack explained. “When we say something controversial, everyone engages.”

The company claims the campaign has generated hundreds of millions of online impressions. Still, Artisan appears to be hiring humans, as there are over two dozen job postings on the company’s LinkedIn.

“We believe in hiring humans,” the CEO said. “Just hiring [them] for work that humans actually want to do.”