When Kesha announced just before Thanksgiving the release of a new single, she was met with backlash rather than excitement.
Instagram users quickly surmised that the artwork the singer and songwriter had posted was generated by artificial intelligence. Kesha has not addressed the allegations.
NME broke down the issue, with a strange-looking image at the center of the controversy. Dozens of the same handbag in different tones are strewn across a street, and a graffitied sidewalk is visible in the background. Most of the purses are spray-painted with various spellings of "Delusional," the track's title. Some of the shadows seem off, and most of the bags look fuzzy around the edges.
People called out the artist.
"I love kesha so much but the ai cover art is so disappointing to see because of how ai harms real artists!!" one commenter wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Someone else said: "As a visual artist im offended, someone who is privilege enough to afford designers using ai to save bunch of bucks is truly decline of creativity. yeah not supporting on this one."
It's not the first time and certainly won't be the last that one creator has allegedly debased others. Businesses have even turned to AI to sell their products.
Aside from the ethical quandaries these practices present, there is also an environmental toll. AI is powered by massive data centers that consume precious resources such as water and require vast amounts of energy, most of which is produced by the burning of dirty fuels. This contributes to the warming of the planet and consequences such as human health problems, mass wildlife extinction, and increasingly frequent and severe extreme weather events.
Even though the technology is in its infancy, it is being scaled up alarmingly — before we know where the industry is headed and without any safeguards. Until governments and companies create regulations, AI will continue to be used underhandedly.
While the AI use is disappointing, one could at least argue that it might have been even worse to buy and deface real bags for a real photograph unless doing so in a way that keeps them functional for others to use, perhaps by selling them off for charity. The least controversial option would have been to hire a human designer to create the art either way.
"Kesha ilysm but never use ai ever again," one fan wrote.
"The song is a banger tho!! and btw this post is not meant to hate on kesha. ... It's just necessary to call artists out when they do something not cool," they added.
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