An advert marketing campaign for AI startup Artisan has sparked controversy within the UK on account of its controversial messaging.
The advert, which featured throughout London public transport, displayed the textual content “Cease Hiring People…the period of AI staff is right here“, tapping into anxieties over the potential of AI know-how placing jobs in danger.
The tube station close to the brand new MATS workplace is plastered with these ‘cease hiring people’ posters. pic.twitter.com/h9iplkgbD1
— Simon Lermen (@SimonLermenAI) June 11, 2025
The San Francisco-founded firm develops AI-powered gross sales representatives. It closed a $25m Sequence A spherical in April that included backing from Y Combinator and HubSpot.
A spokesperson for the Promoting Requirements Authority (ASA) instructed UKTN that the regulator had obtained a number of complaints about Artisan’s advert marketing campaign.
Regardless of public complaints, the watchdog decided that whereas probably controversial, the advertising was not prone to trigger “critical or widespread offence” and so it could not take additional motion.
The corporate beforehand launched its Cease Hiring People marketing campaign within the US, the place it was reportedly met with on-line backlash that prompted firm co-founder and chief government Jaspar Carmichael-Jack to submit a video jokingly asserting his resignation and substitute by an AI CEO.
The US marketing campaign included different provocative slogans, together with “Artisans gained’t come into work hungover” and “Artisans gained’t complain about work-life stability“.
Carmichael-Jack instructed UKTN: “As a startup, it’s troublesome to get consideration and to construct model consciousness – particularly if you’re in an area as aggressive as creating AI gross sales reps.
“We’ve seen an enormous uptick in buyer curiosity since launching this marketing campaign in London and have been in a position to get our model identify on the market with out having the identical price range as large corporations. Certain, it’s polarising – however it works.”
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