San Francisco commuters are used to bold tech ads, but the latest round of billboards took things to a darker, almost uncanny place. Overnight, stark black-and-white ads for something called Replacement.AI popped up around the city, bluntly announcing that “Humans are no longer necessary” and promoting what looks like an AI product for kids. The copy leans hard into insult comedy, tossing out descriptors like “Stupid. Smelly. Squishy,” and introduces a kids’ chatbot named HUMBERT. For people already living in the shadow of provocative startup marketing, the whole thing landed somewhere between satire, sincere pitch, and genuine unease.
Local television crews quickly started trying to figure out who was behind it. As reported by KRON4 yesterday, the station reached out through the Replacement.AI site and spoke with someone identifying himself as Chase Hardin, who told the reporter that “the punchline is obviously on humanity.” That early coverage noted billboards around the Bay Area and directed viewers to the Replacement.AI website for more context.
‘If this is a joke, the punchline is on humanity’: Mysterious AI billboards blur line between parody and tech realitySTORY: https://t.co/39I6z3LmTHpic.twitter.com/qpocDbfITR
— KRON4 News (@kron4news) December 25, 2025
What the Site Actually Says
The landing page does not bother with subtlety. According to Replacement.AI, the homepage declares “Humans are no longer necessary” and repeats sharp taglines such as “Stupid. Smelly. Squishy.” The site bills itself as the “only honest AI company” and weaves in quotes from recognizable industry figures alongside language that reads more like a manifesto than a standard product pitch. That mashup of real quotations and over-the-top claims is a big part of why visitors started wondering whether they were looking at satire, performance art, or the soft launch of an actual startup.
HUMBERT, the Kids’ Chatbot
On the Products page of Replacement.AI, HUMBERT is described as a “special large language model just for kids” with section headings that include “Parenting,” “Deepfakes,” “Addictive” and “Romance.” The copy goes further, claiming the model is “designed to prolong engagement, even triggering delusion or psychosis,” and openly touting deepfake and romantic features that, if they were real offerings, would raise immediate and serious child-safety alarms. The text is presented as straightforward product marketing, which is why so many readers pressed for clearer context from whoever is behind the campaign…