“They owe us an anthro-apology”: Anthropologie hit with AI allegations over 'uncanny' artwork

American retailer Anthropologie has faced AI allegations after its shopping bags were spotted sporting suspiciously AI-eque artwork. AI art is already a hugely divisive topic due to concerns over copyright and artistic integrity, but witnessing big brands embracing the tool only reinforces that quick-fix AI content is increasingly favoured over human creativity.

With AI image generators at our fingertips, it's sadly unsurprising that we're seeing an increase in AI-generated artwork. Provoking a scathing backlash, Anthropologie's alleged use of AI has quickly become one of the latest in a string of AI art controversies in 2024 and again proves that the internet is ruthless when it comes to calling out artificial slop.

AI generated art on an Anthropologie bag? from r/ChatGPT

Shared to the r/ChatGPT subreddit, u/PrescribeSomeTea shared a picture of the shopping bag, asking fellow Redditors whether they thought the art was AI-generated. The bag in question features a wintery snow scene with faux pine trees made to look like balls of yarn. The disjointed look of the piece and the Gaussian blur soullessness of the image certainly carry the qualities of AI artwork, and other users in the subreddit seemed to agree.

"Get used to it. I work in a creative industry and we utilize AI generated art for A LOT... But we spend an awful lot of time making sure it doesn't look like AI art. This isn't very well done in my opinion," one user commented. "With something like Anthropologie that prides itself on embracing artists, it’s pretty disingenuous and goes against their brand. They’re intentionally misleading people by banking on them not knowing it’s AI," another added.

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The response was equally heated on the r/graphic_design subreddit, where one user wrote, "The fact really design-focused brands like Anthropologie and Vogue are using AI is very concerning, if only that the general quality of design is going to get worse and worse. I don't personally want my eyes assaulted by shitty cartoonish Facebook-meme quality AI all day." Another commented, "It’s uncanny valley, it causes a natural visceral revulsion," while one commenter simply added, "I think they owe us an anthro-apology."

With notable brands like Skechers, Coca-Cola, and now Anthropologie hopping on the AI bandwagon, it's increasingly frustrating to witness this decline in human-made art. Despite creatives feeling more optimistic about AI according to Monotype's research, until we can reach a place of balance and regulation where AI is an enhancement rather than a replacement for human creativity, its usage will continue to face backlash.