An artificial intelligence company came under fire for a series of billboards urging employers to stop hiring humans and hire AI employees instead.
The Bay Area Current reported that ads from Artisan, an AI employee platform, began appearing in San Francisco, featuring messages like "Artisans Won't Need a Meeting With HR," "Artisans Won't Complain About Work-Life Balance," and, more directly, "Hire Artisans, not humans."
One billboard purposefully included a typo — an error only a human would make — in the message: "STOP HIRRING [sic] HUMANS," with the misspelled word underlined in red.
The campaign garnered attention from local news and tech publications, boosting Artisan's visibility. Artisan's chief executive officer called it a viral marketing effort that, according to the Bay Area Current, generated millions of dollars for the company.
Possibly worse yet? The advertising is mostly false and alarmist. Artisan functions merely as another software solution for automating outreach — one that occasionally produces inaccuracies.
Public reaction was not favorable. As AI technology currently has limited safety nets, an ad campaign signaling a replacement of human labor with AI employees, even partially humorously, can feel threatening.
Artisan launched a revised marketing initiative with a more cautious approach to reassure the workforce. Phrases like "Stop Hiring Humans … For Work They Hate" and "Stop Hiring Humans ... To Write Cold Emails" replaced the more aggressive messaging.
Data scientist John Aziz (@aziz0nomics) posted a photo of one of the ads to social platform X, writing, "This is maybe the worst corporate messaging I've ever seen in my life."
This is maybe the worst corporate messaging I've ever seen in my life. pic.twitter.com/a5f4z7WDTU
— John Aziz (@aziz0nomics) March 26, 2026
Commenters had a lot to say.
"If a sci-fi writer did this, they'd be called a cliched hack," one said.
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Save $1,000 this year 💸 "There's no messaging that's going to get the general public to have an even remotely favorable view of a company selling AI employees," another added.
"I can't even with this," a third commented.
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