Fiverr’s tasteless new AI ad fails to read the room

Fiverr has released what it calls a "delightfully ironic new AI campaign," spotlighting how audiences supposedly don't care whether you use artificial intelligence. In a climate where AI is often the centre of ethical debate around the future of creative careers, the ad comes across as a gauche and flippant take that fails to read the room.

While the best adverts often generate conversation and provide food for thought, Fiverr's blasé playfulness undercuts the genuine nuanced conversation surrounding the ethics of AI. The bottom line is that many creatives in the industry do care about AI and its consequences, and for a brand centred around freelance human talent, the ad feels like a tasteless miscalculation that alienates the very talent it relies upon.

Nobody Cares: The Musical | Fiverr - YouTube

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Apparently, Fiverr's "Nobody Cares" musical is a parodic and lighthearted take on the rise of AI, based on the brand's Generative AI Usage Report (and obviously, it's all made with AI). While "nearly 50% of UK-based freelancers question the quality of AI outputs" according to its study, Fiverr chooses to make light of the situation, positioning AI transparency as a bizarre brag in the creative industry. While recent scandals like Adobe's massive AI backlash prove that AI is still a hugely controversial topic, the ad's odd nonchalance comes across as a willfully ignorant diminishing of reality.

With lyrics such as “Just make it work fast and we’ll give it a shot” and “AI is only a tool,” the reductive ad portrays the technology as a speedy workaround, ignoring the countless ethical and legal concerns surrounding it. Even if the ad's intentions lay in dispelling the "high level of scepticism" around the quality and legal complications of AI, it only seems to serve as a puff piece for the shiny 'brilliance' of the technology.

There are comments on Fiverr's announcement of the ad that agree with the brand's message. "You're right, the focus should be on the content and message rather than the tool used to create it. Keep in mind and avoid mentioning AI unless relevant to the conversation," one user says. But I can't help but agree with this critic who said: "Actually. A lot of people care. Maybe take the vibrating glasses out of your a** and use them to read the room".

Fiverr's musical ad isn't supposed to be a praise piece on AI, but rather a spotlight on "the talent using it, how they’re using it, and the results it delivers." Despite this, the ad has that undeniable AI-generated hollowness – an ad praising AI, made by AI, isn't exactly the most appropriate way to promote your human-centric freelance talent platform in my humble opinion.

We've seen our fair share of AI advertising recently, and while it's clear I'm not the biggest fan, I'm willing to accept it's a growing trend that's likely inevitable. I believe one of the best solutions to AI scepticism is transparency, something that Fiverr's frivolous ad tastelessly mocks. Burying the truth only furthers the divide between pro and anti-AI camps and until we can develop an ethical and considered approach to AI, it will continue to exist in this troubling grey area.