Latest news with #Artisan
Tom's Guide
04-07-2025
- Business
- Tom's Guide
The Ninja Artisan Pizza Oven has never been cheaper — save $100 in this early Prime Day deal
It's Prime Day time, you've been considering investing in an outdoor pizza oven, now is the time to act. Ninja's first ever dedicated pizza oven is at its lowest price ever, with a third off its regular price of $299. At $199 at Amazon and direct from Ninja, this is an amazing deal on a fully electric pizza oven that makes outdoor entertaining easy as pie. I've been testing pizza ovens for half a decade, which means I've thrown many a pizza party, and few make it as easy to churn out slice after slice as the Ninja Artisan Pizza Oven. The Ninja Artisan Outdoor Pizza Oven aims to offer low-maintenance cooking at a medium price point. The oven offers a sizable 12" x 12" cavity and is weather-resistant for outdoor check: $199 at First released in early 2025, this is the lowest price I've ever seen on Ninja's Artisan oven. It's fully electric, which means it can hit temperatures of 90-700°F without the need to refuel or manually monitor its internal temperature. This creates a consistent heat that's especially well-suited to entertaining. There's lots to love about this oven. For one, it has a viewing window that allows you to take a peek at your pie as it's cooking and prevent any burning, without losing heat. This is a feature you can find in alternatives such as Ooni, but at a much higher price. The Ninja Artisan oven can cook pizza in five settings: Neapolitan, Thin Crust, Pan, New York, and Custom. You can also manually adjust your temperature settings and timer, allowing you to cook more than just pizza in your oven. The oven also has settings for baking, broiling, and even proving bread, meaning you can use it in the place of your oven on a hot summer's day to cook up a roast chicken or even a chocolate cake. While Prime Day is just around the corner, I'd be shocked to see the Ninja Artisan Oven go any lower in price. At $100 off, this 33% saving is not to be skipped.
Bloomberg
03-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
What Fine Dining Looks Like With Absolutely No Plastic
The modern fine-dining plate is enabled by plastic. The artful sauce squiggles? They're delivered via plastic squeeze bottles. Those otherworldly food shapes? Crafted by silicon molds. And that's not counting the many plastic implements that never touch the plate: spatulas, cutting boards and plastic-handled knives and pans. The restaurant industry's reliance on plastic 'has become more and more drastic over the years,' says Edward Lee, a former Iron Chef America contestant whose book Buttermilk Graffiti (Artisan, 2018) won a James Beard Foundation Book Award. 'It's not necessary. It's just that it's so convenient and it's so prevalent and it's everywhere that we don't even think about it.'
Telegraph
29-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
‘Stop hiring humans': Customer service under threat as robots take hold
Workers commuting on the London Underground have been confronted with a terrifying message in recent weeks. Scrolling digital adverts, displayed on the Tube's escalators, have urged businesses to 'stop hiring humans' and use artificial intelligence (AI) robots instead. The spooky messages are the work of Artisan, an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, which launched the guerrilla-marketing campaign to promote its AI software. But the ads have hit a nerve with London's commuter class, tapping into deep-seated fears that fake human workers are coming for their jobs. Hundreds of businesses across the country are now deploying AI workers instead of people. But instead of a brave new world of efficient robotic workers, there are mounting fears that the increased use of AI and chatbots will simply make things worse for customers and workers. Daniel O'Sullivan, a customer service analyst at Gartner, says consumers have justifiably had concerns about the rise of AI because 'chatbots have historically sucked'. Lisa Webb, a consumer law expert at Which?, says: 'Not all chatbots are built equally. While some can be helpful, others can send customers round in circles and make it difficult for them to get their issues resolved.' Replacing drudge-work For managers looking to cut costs, the pitch to replace human workers with AI software is compelling. On Artisan's website, it pitches 'your future colleagues' – Aria, Ava and Aaron – and promises customers they can get results 'without increasing headcount'. For now, Artisan is targeting the drudge-work of business sales, helping companies to automate outbound cold emails and the initial conversations with potential clients, work normally done by a very junior sales worker. The start-up is not yet dealing with consumer-facing customer service roles, which Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, Artisan's 23-year-old founder, says raise 'more issues' and risks. In the context of a business transaction, there may be little to lose with using AI to automate and personalise thousands of cold call pitches, job adverts or PR emails which may never get opened. But when it comes to interactions with consumers, 'the error rate is too high across the board', Carmichael-Jack says. 'That is why people have this anti-AI sentiment.' That has not stopped hundreds of businesses using AI worker and experimenting with AI customer service, whether the public wants it or not. Dozens of technology businesses have promised AI helpers that can smooth over customer service functions. These include AI bots from start-ups like the UK's PolyAI, which bills its technology as the 'most lifelike' voice agents, to tech giants such as Salesforce and its 'Agentforce' bots. High-profile businesses such as Klarna, the buy now, pay later provider, have already raced to replace jobs once taken by humans with AI bots. A question of quality But so far, these fake humans have produced mixed results. In some cases, companies have completely reversed course. At Klarna, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the chief executive, went all in on AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, seeking to swap human-led customer service for AI, dramatically cutting jobs. However, in an interview earlier this year, the Swedish company's boss admitted this AI zeal had not worked out. 'What you end up having is lower quality,' he told Bloomberg, adding that 'investing in the quality of the human support is the way of the future for us'. So far, the public is not sold on the idea that AI agents are going to lead to an improvement in customer service. A survey from Gartner, published last year, found that 64pc of people would prefer it if companies did not use AI in customer service interactions at all, and 60pc feared it would make it harder to speak to a human – putting up an AI middleman. And there are plenty of examples of early attempts at AI-powered customer service getting it wrong. In 2024, a DPD chatbot swore when prompted by users and told customers that 'DPD is useless' and 'don't bother calling them'. In April this year, an AI support bot called Sam for the code editor app Cursor went rogue. After users found a bug within Cursor's service that booted them out when they tried to log in from multiple machines, Sam told customers that this was part of a new policy. Users were not aware that Sam was a bot, leading some to threaten to cancel their subscriptions. And last year, Air Canada was forced to honour a refund after its website's chatbot invented a policy when interacting with a customer. Generative AI-powered chatbots, which are trained to speak in plain English, suffer from a problem known as 'hallucination', whereby the AI will sometimes simply make up information if it does not know the answer. These bugs in customer service bots risk driving consumers away. A survey from customer service firm Acquire Intelligence found that 70pc of consumers would take their business elsewhere if they were let down by a bot. Such errors and risks mean that some companies that were among the first movers to try out AI agents as a replacement for human workers are already winding back. In a survey published this month, Gartner found that half of companies that were planning to replace their customer service staff with AI were considering abandoning the plans. 'AI agents' However, O'Sullivan predicted that rapidly advancing technology and changes in customer expectations mean the shift to AI workers is unlikely to stop completely. 'Perceptions here are changing very quickly,' he says. 'Even in the space of one year, we have people becoming more accustomed to using AI.' He added that when it comes to customer service woes, people want their problem solved, and the 'means through which they solve the issue is not necessarily the most important thing to them'. If bots get more effective than a human, consumers could quickly decide they prefer them to speaking to a real person. If the tech industry is to be believed, this shift is just around the corner. Increasingly advanced 'AI agents' – big tech's latest buzzword – are supposed to be able to take on ever more complex tasks from human workers. While customer support bots once could only provide basic question and answer functionality, agents will be able to draw information from across a business and function more autonomously. 'Customer frustration with traditional chatbots has typically stemmed from the tools' limited capabilities,' says Heidi O'Leary, a partner at Deloitte Digital. 'Agentic AI goes a step further, allowing these assistants to take actions on a customer's behalf – for example, initiating a return or refund without human intervention.' For now, she says the most successful uses of AI in customer service have kept humans in the loop, using AI as a tool to boost the performance of human staff, for instance, by quickly drafting emails or notes. Artisan's Carmichael-Jack says AI bots are 'not currently as effective as a human in a lot of use cases'. But this is rapidly changing, with tech companies building more accurate AI bots and attempting to instil 'reasoning' in them. He expects perceptions of AI employees to 'shift over the next couple of years because we know it is going to get it right'. In the near future, he expects that people would 'rather be put through to AI than to an offshore call centre. People will want to speak to an AI agent and you will be that annoyed if you are put through to a human'.
Business Wire
26-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Artisan Studios Joins Vercel Partner Program to Drive Innovation in Modern Web Development
ASHEVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Artisan Studios ('Artisan'), a leader in technology solutions, is proud to announce its official partnership with creator, Vercel, joining their prestigious Partner Program to bring next-generation digital experiences to clients across industries. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in Artisan's continued commitment to building fast, scalable, and innovative solutions for modern enterprises. By partnering with Vercel, Artisan Studios strengthens its ability to deliver seamless frontend experiences powered by Vercel's world-class deployment and hosting platform. The partnership opens new opportunities to collaborate on projects leveraging edge computing, AI-driven applications, and the powerful framework—Vercel's open-source React-based toolkit for modern web development. 'We're excited to join forces with Vercel,' said Tim Mitrovich, CEO of Artisan Studios. 'Their platform is the gold standard for performance and reliability in frontend hosting, and this partnership empowers us to push the boundaries of what's possible, faster, smarter, and more beautiful.' 'At Vercel, we look for partners who share our values, expertise, and commitment on delivering impact. Artisan Studios demonstrated that from our first collaboration,' said Jen Chang, Vice President of Partnerships at Vercel. 'Together, we helped a major fast food client modernize internal systems on Vercel, achieving efficiency gains that set a new standard for their team. By combining Vercel's frontend platform with Artisan's consultative delivery, we're well-positioned to help customers build high-impact digital experiences that adapt to a changing market.' As a member of the Vercel Partner Program, Artisan Studios gains access to early insights, technical collaboration, and go-to-market support, further enhancing customer satisfaction and accelerating time to value. Together, Artisan and Vercel aim to transform how digital products are designed, built, and delivered. About Artisan Studios: Artisan is an AWS digital innovation consultancy offering comprehensive technology strategy and solutions. Specializing in full-scale digital transformations, supply chain optimization, and high-stakes digital challenges, Artisan delivers expertly crafted, elegant solutions that drive change and accelerate success. Learn more about Artisan Studios at About Vercel: Vercel is the platform for frontend developers, providing the speed and reliability teams need to iterate quickly and ship confidently. Creators of Vercel powers some of the world's most performance-focused websites and digital experiences. For more information, visit or
Int'l Business Times
24-06-2025
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
'Stop Hiring Humans:' AI Ad Sparks Meltdown In Midtown Manhattan
Times Square recently turned into ground zero for a fiery debate over AI and the future of work, after a striking billboard reading "Stop Hiring Humans" appeared high above the city's bustling streets. The ad, unveiled by San Francisco-based startup Artisan AI, was part of a campaign to promote their voice-powered virtual employee Ava, and it has since gone viral online, drawing both applause and outrage in equal measure. The controversial campaign, according to Artisan's official blog, was a deliberate attempt to break away from what the company called "vanilla" messaging in the AI space. Earlier slogans like "Upskill with AI" reportedly failed to grab attention, prompting the team to go bold. CEO Jaspar Carmichael-Jack admitted the shock factor was intentional, stating that the aim was to start a conversation—not end one. "If we made the billboards as safe as everyone else's, nobody would care," he noted in the blog post. The reaction on the streets and online has been intense. SFGate reported the campaign featured follow-up slogans like "Artisans won't ask for paid time off" and "Artisan's Zoom cameras will never 'not be working' today," poking fun at human work habits. The tone has been described as "dystopian," but Artisan insists the purpose was never to threaten human workers. Instead, the company claims the goal is to eliminate the kind of repetitive tasks people don't enjoy, making human work more meaningful. Despite spending less than $50,000 on the billboard, Artisan's campaign has reportedly earned the company hundreds of millions of impressions across platforms like TikTok and Reddit. The New York Post reported that the stunt has even translated into business success, with Artisan claiming to have generated over $2 million in new annual revenue since the ad went live. Yet, the backlash hasn't been quiet either—critics have called the ad tone-deaf amid rising concerns over job losses due to automation. One user on Reddit summed up the mood bluntly: "Vandalism has never felt so justifiable." Artisan's messaging has been careful to underline that the startup is still hiring humans. In fact, they've highlighted ongoing job openings for software engineers and designers, even as Ava continues to evolve. As per Forbes, the company recently raised $25 million to expand its AI workforce model, aiming to integrate AI into day-to-day operations without eliminating human oversight. While reactions remain sharply divided, one thing is clear: Artisan AI has successfully inserted itself into the global conversation about where artificial intelligence is headed. Whether the world is ready for Ava or not, the message has landed—and people are paying attention.
