Publicis Groupe’s annual holiday wishes are brought to us this year by its artificial intelligence platform, Marcel.

The playful video shows the cheery AI wheeling on screen as a robot to wish everyone a Happy Holidays. But before that, it has something to address: “I want to clear the air. If what I’ve read online is true, most of you don’t like me,” it says in a warm French accent, before being given the cold shoulder and a barrage of abuse as it tours around the agency.

“Why create me if no one wants me?” it asks in an existential pondering. “I’m actually a pretty nice AI once you get to know me.”

It’s a strikingly honest message from the company, addressing the criticism that it has received since it announced its commitment to building the network-wide global assistant in 2017 and officially unveiled it in May 2018. With Beta testing over, Marcel is slated to officially launch across the Groupe at the start of 2019.