"Anyone driving across the Bay Bridge into San Francisco in the past year has likely noticed the surge of AI-themed billboards lining the highway. Among the many provocative ads—some with slogans like “Stop hiring humans”—a new series of even more extreme billboards appeared earlier this year.
The ads, from a company calling itself Replacement AI, feature dark, dystopian taglines.
One reads: “AI does your daughter’s homework. Reads her bedtime stories. Romances her. Deepfakes her. Don’t worry. It’s totally legal.” Visitors to the Replacement AI website are greeted with a banner declaring, “Humans are no longer necessary.”
Other messaging includes insults like “stupid, smelly, squishy,” alongside the ominous statement: “It’s time for a human solution.” While the tone seems satirical, the site also includes a quote from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman: “AI will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there’ll be great companies.”
KRON4 contacted Replacement AI and spoke with someone claiming to be the startup’s “humble unpaid intern,” Chase Hardin. Coincidentally, Hardin shares a name with the communications director for the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit focused on AI safety. Are they the same person? Possibly—but for this story, we’ll play along.
When asked if Replacement AI is real, Hardin insisted it is.
“Yeah, absolutely we’re a real AI company,” he said. “We’ve got a website, we’ve got a CEO, we’ve got an HR director. It’s all there in black and white.”"
