Survey Says is a weekly series rounding up the most important polling trends or data points you need to know about, plus a vibe check on a trend that’s driving politics or culture.

The billboards started appearing last year, first in San Francisco, then elsewhere. A young woman’s face, normal but for her glowing eyes, stared out at us. The text beside her read, “Stop Hiring Humans. The Era of AI Employees Is Here.”

The company that put them up, Artisan, said the ads were merely meant to generate attention for its “AI-first” sales platform. In that way, the campaign was successful—here I am, writing about it—but in another way, it unintentionally reveals how so many of these artificial intelligence companies see human beings: as a vestigial organ, once useful but no longer, the only thing

See Full Page