Black-led startup Artisan AI just closed a $25 million Series A to bring its provocative vision to HR, sales, and operations and spark a national conversation about AI’s role in the workplace.
Founded in 2023 by CEO Jaspar Carmichael Jack with co-founder Sam Stallings, Artisan offers “AI agents” dubbed Artisans. These smart bots automate repetitive functions like recruiting outreach, CRM upkeep, data entry, and email campaigns. Their first AI “employee”, Ava, handles outbound sales from prospecting to booking meetings, already serving hundreds of clients.
Stop Hiring Humans (But Still Hire Humans)
Remember Artisan’s runaway-hit billboard and social campaign, “Stop Hiring Humans”, that caught fire last year? It drew shock, headlines, even death threats, but did exactly what it aimed to: provoke conversations about how humans and AI can co-exist. When criticized, Jaspar clarified it was a bold PR strategy, not an anti-human manifesto. Artisan still employs 35 humans and is actively hiring across sales, engineering, and operations while building its AI team.
More Agents, More Autonomy
The new funding, led by Glade Brook Capital, with backing from Y Combinator, HubSpot Ventures, Day One Ventures, BOND and others, will scale Ava, rolling out two new agents: Aaron, an inbound SDR, and Aria, a meeting assistant, both launching later in the year. The startup has passed its first volume milestone: 250 paying customers and about $5 million in ARR.
Building Hybrid Teams
What’s significant here, aside from funding and hype, is Artisan’s ambition to embed AI agents into the workflows of HR teams. Automating outreach, scheduling interviews, vetting candidates: these tasks are routine and ripe for digitization. With Artisans, human HR pros can shift focus to relationship-driven functions like culture-building, onboarding, and retention.
Artisan is pushing a new narrative for efficiency, offering a transformational tool for Black‑led and purpose-driven businesses that often lack HR infrastructure and scale. With AI handling heavy tactics, founders and teams can focus on strategy, mentorship, and inclusive culture, areas AI still can’t touch.
Yet, deploying “digital colleagues” raises tough questions: What does accountability or performance evaluation look like when a bot is on your team? How do you ensure bias-free practices when AI takes charge of filtering resumes? Artisan has garnered awareness, but the real work begins now, as hybrid teams roll out across the market.
A Shift Toward AI-First Operations
Artisan is part of a broader pivot toward AI-first workplaces. Microsoft reports 81 % of frontier firms plan to integrate AI agents within 12–18 months. Its investor circle includes names known for backing diverse founders: Day One Ventures, BOND, and HubSpot Ventures, signaling confidence in their model.
For Black visionaries, this moment could be pivotal. AI has often been seen as a threat to traditional entry-level jobs, but companies like Artisan show how automation can free teams to build future-ready structures, while circulating opportunities within underrepresented communities.
