Billboards plastered across major U.S. cities are telling companies to “Stop Hiring Humans.” The message isn’t from a dystopian novel — it’s part of a viral marketing campaign by Artisan AI, a San Francisco startup selling virtual “employees” like Ava, an AI-powered sales representative.
The stunt started in California last year and recently spread to New York City, where massive posters appeared across Manhattan, including Times Square and the High Line. The company’s co-founder and CEO, Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, said they spent under $50,000 on placements across the city. But the campaign’s true target wasn’t foot traffic — it was the internet.
“The biggest play with the campaign is not actually the people who see it from the street,” Carmichael-Jack told The Post. “It’s when people take pictures and repost it and share it. That’s when we go viral.”
It worked. The AI startup claims its New York rollout has generated hundreds of millions of online impressions, outperforming earlier campaigns in San Francisco and London. Artisan’s first attempts, with softer slogans like “Be more productive” and “Upskill with AI,” barely registered online.
But when they switched to bolder lines such as “Stop hiring humans,” “Artisans won’t complain about work-life balance,” and “Artisans won’t come into work hungover,” the internet took notice.
Stop Hiring Humans Billboard
“It’s designed to start conversation and stir public interest,” Carmichael-Jack said. “When we say something controversial, everyone engages.”
The approach has sparked reactions across the spectrum — from fascination to outrage. Labor advocates and marketing experts have weighed in, calling the campaign a mirror reflecting society’s anxiety over automation and the future of work. “Campaigns like this force us to confront our attitudes towards human workers,” said Ifeoma Ajunwa, a law professor at Emory University and author of The Quantified Worker.
Ironically, Artisan AI is still hiring humans — for now. The company’s LinkedIn page lists more than two dozen open roles. “We believe in hiring humans,” Carmichael-Jack said. “Just hiring [them] for work that humans actually want to do.”
Not everyone is amused. In New York, the “Stop Hiring Humans” billboards have triggered a wave of backlash. On Reddit, one post showing a Times Square billboard drew fiery comments like “Rip them down” and “Vandalizing has never felt so right.” The anger has reached beyond social media, with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders chiming in on X: “Great idea. One simple question: How will those displaced workers survive when there are no jobs or income for them?”
Whether you see it as clever marketing or a warning of what’s to come, Artisan’s campaign has done exactly what it set out to do — get people talking about the future of human work in an age increasingly run by machines.
Artisan AI co-founders Sam Stallings, left, and Jaspar Carmichael-Jack faced a wave of backlash after the campaign launched — including thousands of death threats. Artisan.co
