AI company’s offputting ads declare ‘Stop Hiring Humans’

By Jake Meeus-Jones

Commuters fear losing their jobs after an artificial intelligence company launched "gross" billboards around London, encouraging companies to "stop hiring humans."

Artisan, an AI startup founded in 2023, recently acquired $25M in funding in its quest to build a company powered by AI-employees called Artisans.

Their viral billboard campaigns have been seen across US cities and they have now popped up around the London Underground.

The head-turning billboards have not gone down well with many who work in the industry, though some say they are "well-staged."

Another of the billboards shows an AI employee front and centre with text that reads 'Artisans won't WFH in Ibiza next week', causing outrage.

Jamie Vaughan, a managing director at marketing firm Signifly, said in a LinkedIn post that he believes these ads are "everything that's wrong with the current tech discourse around AI and work."

He added in the post: "Here's a company literally advertising the elimination of human collaboration and creativity - the very things that make work meaningful and productive.

"The idea that we should celebrate replacing 'artisans' (actual skilled humans) with AI "employees" is antithetical to everything I believe about business success.

"Real innovation comes from humans working together, challenging each other, and building on each other's ideas.

"It is also entirely possible for great work to be done from home or remotely.

"We should be using AI to enhance human creativity and collaboration, not replace it entirely.

"Hard pass on this dystopian vision of work."

In response, many LinkedIn users disagreed with Jamie's post and claimed that their campaign had worked.

One user said, "Yet, it triggered you. Well-staged ad by Artisan."

A co-founder of a customer experience agency added: "This is the exact reaction they want!!! I'd argue the ad is doing exactly what it's intended to do…get the humanoids worked up on LinkedIn."

A third said: "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about - you’re only helping them."

A fourth reluctantly said, "Actually gross. But sadly, it did its job."

But many felt the idea of 'any attention is still attention' has been pushed too far with this campaign.

A senior product designer said: "I know some people agree with 'negative attention is still attention', but this is a personal and professional pet peeve of mine - is the hate worth it?

"I would rather be talked about the good work we are doing rather than counting on rage bait…"

Another added: "While provocative, rage baiting seems to have worked every time on a lot of posts here, but in all honesty, is it worth the risk?"