In a world where discussions about automation usually focus on humans being replaced by AI, JetBrains flips the script. With its global campaign, the software company and its coding agent Junie expose an overlooked irony: developers are spending so much time on repetitive, mechanical work – debugging, testing, fixing code – that they’re practically doing AI’s job instead of focusing on more meaningful challenges.
By positioning Junie as the leader of a playful pro-AI rights movement, championing the idea that AI deserves the right to handle the routine work it was built for, JetBrains shows how their solution reverses the roles, leaving the debugging to AI, and allowing developers to do what they love.
A Movement to Stop AI Replacement
The campaign’s core message – “Stop replacing AI with human devs. Interesting work for human devs. Mundane work for the coding agent.” – challenges the usual narrative around artificial intelligence. Instead of portraying humans and AI as competing forces, the campaign calls on the tech industry to take action and secure the “rights” of AI to handle routine work – a provocative statement aimed at IT companies worldwide, suggesting that humans and AI should collaborate, each focusing on the work they do best.
At the center of the campaign stands Junie, JetBrains’ own coding agent. Presented as both activist and problem-solver, Junie leads the call to action with a simple, pragmatic vision: humans and AI working together.
Beyond its role as a campaign figurehead, Junie also offers a tangible solution for developers overwhelmed by the monotony of day-to-day tasks — helping them automate routine work so they can focus on what truly requires a human touch.
Bringing the AI Rights Movement to Life
Launched October 13, the global campaign takes the form of a bold media activation spanning OOH, DOOH, guerrilla posters, and influencer content.
Each format adopts the tone of a social protest, rallying for “AI rights”: the right to handle boring, repetitive code.
- Guerrilla posters will appear outside major tech offices in London, Amsterdam, Munich, and Berlin, cleverly presenting Junie’s “CV” for mundane coding tasks.
- Special OOH & DOOH activations transform local landmarks into digital demonstrations of the campaign’s message, each carefully tailored to its environment with the creative adapting to both the setting and its audience.
Every site becomes a distinct expression of the campaign’s call for AI Rights, from a draining battery outside Nasdaq symbolizing wasted human energy, to a giant developer’s screen at Now Building at Outernet London, where task notifications pile up as a cursor frantically tries to organize them, to a series of DOOH pillars at Uber Arena Berlin resembling protest banners that display various mundane developer tasks before synchronizing to reveal the movement’s unifying statement.
Andrew Zakonov, VP of Business, Junie and Kineto:
“The software development community is currently grappling with mixed sentiments about AI. On one hand, we have coding agents winning programming competitions, on the other, we have developers spending hours debugging after AI-generated code.
While models and agents are getting smarter every day, we still can’t fully trust coding agents, even with simple tasks. With our new campaign, we wanted to say: this has to stop. Developers weren’t born to debug after AI, it’s AI’s job to take over routine tasks and the ones you don’t enjoy doing.
When developers write boilerplate code, the coding agent cries.
We believe that we can change it – that’s why we’ve been developing Junie, a smart coding agent you can understand and trust.
Keep coding. We’re here to make it more enjoyable with Junie.”
Liudmila Kulibaba, Creative Director, Talent Creative Agency:
“Developers are among the most creative minds out there. Yet too often they’re stuck doing work that was never meant for humans. When we treat problem-solvers like machines, we don’t boost productivity — we suppress innovation. AI should take care of the routine, so people can focus on what actually moves technology forward.”
