Artisan’s dystopian billboards are working as intended

Artisan, a YC-backed startup that sells AI agents (“Artisans”) to assist with customer service and sales efforts, has launched a new billboard campaign in the San Francisco-area that’s causing eyebrows to animate like Eugene Levy from Schitt’s Creek. The key to good marketing in 2024 – lean into outrage.

Some of the slogans:

• "Stop Hiring Humans."
• “Artisan’s Zoom cameras will never ‘not be working’ today.”
• "Artisans won't complain about work-life balance"
• "The era of AI employees is here."

The dystopian outrage campaign is working. Social media is angry, but Artisan CEO Jaspar Carmichael-Jack told SFGate that brand awareness and sales leads have spiked following the company’s release of the billboards.

Zoom out: Technology has long caused the economy to shapeshift; ~60% of jobs in the US represent new types of work that have been created since 1940. But, according to a 2024 study that analyzed 35,000 job categories dating back to 1940, technology has replaced more jobs than it’s created over the past ~40 years.

🤖 This is expected to continue. According to Goldman Sachs, AI could eliminate or diminish ~300 million jobs by 2030, with admin support positions, legal positions, and jobs in architecture and engineering at the greatest risk of replacement.