Taylor Swift is undoubtedly one of today’s most successful pop stars. However, the release of her new album Life of a Showgirl was accompanied by unexpected criticism: The reason was not the album itself, but the way Taylor Swift promoted it. Her fans accused her of using “AI slop,” meaning low-quality, cheaply produced content created by artificial intelligence.
When a QR Code Reveals More Than Just a New Album
Part of the promotional campaign for the new album involved searching for 12 orange doors in various cities around the world. Each door featured a QR code that, when scanned, opened one of the short videos containing information about the new album.
This campaign was created in collaboration with Google and was intended to culminate in the unveiling of a new music video for the single The Fate of Ophelia. The entire promotion genuinely captured fans’ attention. However, some of the videos caught their attention for more negative reasons.
Although fans were excited about the new album, they quickly noticed that the individual videos were apparently not the work of creative artists, but of artificial intelligence. They contained imperfections and typical object distortions. Users on Reddit immediately pointed out a book with strange lettering, distorted objects in paintings, crooked dumbbells in a fitness center, and other “AI clues.”
Why All the Fuss?
Although it may have been some kind of experiment, fans were not satisfied. A heated discussion on Reddit highlighted not only the individual errors in the videos, but also Taylor Swift herself. “She’s too rich to be so damn cheap.” or “I really don’t understand this. She probably has an unlimited budget for her projects. She is the most successful artist on the planet. The budget for the Ophelia video looks enormous. Why the hell can’t she afford to pay artists instead of using generative AI?” fans wrote, noting that Taylor herself has spoken out as a critic of AI in art and has long supported fair compensation for artists.
And it was precisely her criticism of companies for exploiting creators followed by her use of AI that began to strike fans as hypocritical. Others, meanwhile, became even more convinced that artificial intelligence is now making its way absolutely everywhere. Even to those who can afford the best creative teams and expensive production.
A Victim of AI Abuse
What surprised fans the most was that Taylor Swift used artificial intelligence even though she herself had become its victim last year. In 2024, nude photographs of her created using AI began circulating online, and her face also appeared in other deepfake photos and videos. At the time, she also stated that generative artificial intelligence posed a danger and that the only way to fight it was to spread the truth.
The New Face of Show Business
The controversy surrounding Taylor Swift’s promotional campaign comes at a time when AI is a widely discussed topic. With the arrival of Sora 2 by OpenAI, the door is opening to the creation of far more convincing AI videos. However, there are still details that quickly reveal their origin.
Whether Taylor Swift actually used generative artificial intelligence for her videos or not, one thing is certain: AI content is already making its way into even the highest levels of show business, and the only question is whether it will replace human creativity and craftsmanship.
Source: futurism.com, wired.com, techcrunch.com
