San Francisco Is Covered in AI Billboards That Make Absolutely No Sense

Picture this: you are driving through San Francisco and you see a giant billboard that reads "Own Your Nines" or "Too much B2B SAAS." You squint. You read it again. You still have no idea what it means. Congratulations, you are having the exact experience that most San Franciscans are having right now.

AI startups, flush with billions in venture capital cash, have absolutely plastered the city with billboards, bus shelters, and street kiosks advertising their products. The catch? The ads are deliberately designed so that regular people cannot understand them.

"I look at these billboards and have absolutely no idea what they're advertising," said Louise Mozingo, who runs the urban design program at UC Berkeley. "They're quite clearly not advertising to the average consumer."

And that is exactly the point. These companies are not trying to reach you or me. They are playing an exclusive game of "if you know, you know" aimed squarely at the tiny universe of tech insiders, developers, and potential enterprise customers who live and work in the city.

"The goal is intentional in a kind of 'if-you-know-you-know' type of way," confirmed Mike Bilodeau, head of marketing at AI startup Baseten, whose own billboards feature equally cryptic messages like "Own your models" and "Own Your SLAs."

The billboard boom is very real: outdoor advertising revenue in San Francisco grew by about 30% between 2023 and 2025, according to outdoor ad company Outfront Media. Prime billboard spots now have months-long waiting lists.

So next time you see a billboard in SF that reads like someone spilled a bowl of tech alphabet soup, just know: it was never meant for you. And the company behind it probably just raised $200 million.

As reported by NPR.

Source: NPR