Tedeschi Trucks Band poster controversy shows AI art can be toxic

The backlash against AI art continues to claim unsuspecting victims. We've already seen the likes of Dungeons & Dragons and Lego issue apologies after getting called out by fans. This week it was the turn of husband and wife musicians the Tedeschi Trucks Band.

Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks have apologised and have withdrawn a series of poster designs for their two shows at Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheatre after fans suggested that the imagery may have been made by an AI image generator. It shows how much of a problem AI art has become (also see our round up of the good, the bad and the ugly of AI advertising).

The blues rock duo had announced that posters to be on sale at the gigs this week, but eagle-eyed fans quickly spotted several anomalies with the images. Firstly, the venue depicted doesn’t really look like Red Rocks but more like the kind of generic 'other planet' scene that Midjourney used to turn out in its first incarnation two years ago. Then people noted that Brilliant Workshop, the “artist collective” credited with making the designs, had a very new Instagram account with only 200 followers, no links to any other channels and no evidence of any work other than the pieces for Tedeschi Trucks.

In a post about the posters, Brilliant wrote: "This contrasting diptych is a set of love letters to the majestic Red Rocks venue, celebrating the eternal dance between nature and sound. Visualizing the unforgettable experiences and timeless memories of experiencing live music at nature's greatest stage. Each poster tells half the story, and together they sing. From Dusk to Dawn, the sun and moon rotate positions. The eagle and wolf trade places in the skyline and shadows. The eager crowd anticipates Derek, Susan, and the entire band taking to the stage. The landscape stands silent witness, as the music comes alive where the rocks touch the sky."

But after being alerted to suspicions, Susan and Derek posted an update on Instagram retracting the designs. They thanked fans for noticing that the poster art may have been generated by AI and said they would donate all proceeds from the poster sales to Access Gallery.

They wrote: "In our development process, we believed we were giving an artist with a reputable portfolio in other disciplines of art a first opportunity to create a gig poster. We have been investigating the situation and have requested the artist to provide us with files outlining his creative process. At this time we have not received this information, and would like to apologize to the artist community that we find ourselves in this unfortunate situation."

Brilliant Workshop had yet to respond at the time of writing, although the account published an Instagram Story yesterday in which it wrote: "Stay tuned for a statement from the artist and some notes regarding our design process."

The case is another example of how toxic AI art can be. It can trigger serious backlashes among fans and customers, even when the brand is open about the use of AI. From KFC's AI social media campaign that fell flat to that ghoulish Toys R Us ad, it's controversial, and it often feels. Rarely have we seen cases users throwing praise on a brand's use of AI art. 

The Tedeschi Trucks incident also shows how brands can be caught unaware if they're unable to tell whether an artist or designer they contract has used AI. We've already seen big brands introduced no-AI clauses into their contracts with agencies, but perhaps everyone is going to have to start doing the same thing.

For more AI news, see the launch of Meta's AI Studio at SIGGRAPH 2024.