Artisan's “Stop Hiring Humans” campaign: The Era of AI Agents Is Already Here

Photo by Xu Haiwei on Unsplash

This is probably not a novelty to folks in the US, but as I mentioned in one of my latest notes, a week ago was the first time I saw the controversial and dystopian “Stop Hiring Humans” billboards by Artisan.co in London.

It looked like straight out of a Black Mirror episode, with its AI Artisan Ava gazing back at you with that unsettling, expressionless stare. And it gave me the chills.

Here are a few of the taglines I saw:

• “Artisans are excited to work 70+ hours a week”

• “Artisans won’t complain about work-life balance”

• “Artisans won’t “WFH” in Ibiza next week”

Yes, it’s attention-grabbing. And yes, it has generated over 50 million impressions online and resulted in over $2m of new ARR within two months, according to an article by businesscloud.co.uk.

But it also sparked a lot of controversy and even death threats towards Artisan’s CEO. Not surprising, since they’re marketing their Artisans by tapping into humanity’s deepest fear — being replaced by it. Rage-bait guerrilla marketing at its finest.

I personally found it…cruel, especially as so many people are struggling with unemployment. There’s a strange coldness in turning human limitations into business inefficiencies.

So, what does Artisan do?

They’re creating AI Employees or AI Agents, called Artisans, meant to replace the tedious tasks a Business Development Representative (BDR) does starting with outbound sales.

Ava, their AI BDR automates things such as:

• lead discovery and sales strategy;

• writing and sending personalised emails and follow-ups;

• research of prospects across a variety of sources;

• creation of targeted campaigns.

Even if Artisan’s vision might sound like the next industrial revolution — freeing us from the drudgery of repetitive tasks — we’re not quite living in a world with universal basic income or an abundance of new AI-powered job opportunities to fill the gap left by automation.

I get why companies would would want to hire an Artisan instead of a graduate or a seasoned BDR. Ava doesn’t ask for raises. Ava learns quickly. Ava will not take sick days off.

And while the BDR role may be full of repetitive tasks, such as finding prospects and following up, it’s also a rite of passage in the world of sales.

It’s where people cut their teeth, learn to handle rejection, build resilience, and gain the confidence needed to grow into more senior roles. Strip that away, and we risk removing a crucial training ground for future sales leaders.

I know a lot of companies will find the prospect of automating this role to Artisans, and saving costs enticing, but this shift could have a major impact on recent graduates. How would they land a role in sales? Most companies would still want sales hires with hands-on experience, and without that foundational BDR stepping stone, the path into the industry becomes a lot less clear.

The same goes for other junior roles across industries. These early jobs teach the basics — how to work with others, meet deadlines, and navigate professional expectations. If AI eats up that entire layer, we risk cutting off the path before most people even get a chance to step on it.

On the other hand, I think products like Artisan.co and similar tools like AI SDR, are good news for solopreneurs and small business owners. When you’re wearing every hat from lead generation to invoicing, having access to this level of AI support can be a game-changer. For those who can’t afford to hire a team, these tools can help level the playing field and free up time to focus on actual growth.

Artisan isn’t stopping here

BDR roles are just the beginning.

Following the successful launch of Ava, the AI sales representative, Artisan is planning to introduce two new AI employees by the end of 2025: Aaron, an Inbound SDR Artisan, and Aria, a Meeting Assistant Artisan. The company’s long-term vision is to develop 5 Artisans who can outperform humans in all aspects of a role.

But despite people voicing valid concerns around entry-level job displacement, Artisan’s CEO, Jaspar Carmichael-Jack sugarcoated a more hopeful vision for the future of work:

“We don’t actually want people to stop hiring humans and I don’t actually think AI is dystopian. The real goal for us is to automate the work that humans don’t enjoy, and to make every job more human.”

He also said in an interview on Youtube, that he loves humans and, despite what the billboards say, they are hiring humans. So, out of sheer curiosity, I wanted to see exactly how many humans they were hiring.

How many humans work for Artisan.co

Artisan’s LinkedIn profile currently lists the company size in the “51–200” range; however, at a quick glance under the People section on LinkedIn, many of the employees listed had no picture or were “open to work” or were freelancers.

It’s possible that the 51–200 employees was just selected as a broad category likely anticipating future growth rather than the exact current headcount.

According to this article on TechCrunch, as of April 2025, the founder revealed that Artisan employed roughly 35 human employees and announced plans to add around 22 new hires to its team.

Final thoughts

Automating boring tasks is one thing. But when you scale it across industries without a backup plan for displaced workers, you create a problem we’re not ready to handle.

Who supports the economy when unemployment hits 30%?

What new jobs are being created if AI covers such a wide spectrum of skills?

There are more optimistic voices out there saying everyone will have the opportunity to run a one-person business — all you need is a laptop, a good prompt, and a problem worth solving.

However, I would argue that not everyone has the knowledge or ideas to pivot into launching an AI startup. Not everyone wants to.

If a certain percentage of humans get left out, what happens next?

• Mass unemployment?

• Civil unrest?

• A growing population with nothing to lose — ripe for anger and violence?

• A society built for efficiency, not people?

I’m not saying companies shouldn’t use automate or AI. But we do need to think harder before cheering for its “efficiency” at the cost of human purpose.

Let me know your thoughts. Are we writing our own demise due to AI developments?

Note! This article was originally published on Medium.com, under Career Paths publications and had a few edits for my Substack community.