While a lot of World Cup adverts saw fit to use AI, the tech giants driving the generative AI resolution seem to understand that it's not a good look. OpenAI even ran an ad campaign for ChatGPT that was shot on 35mm film.
Even for relatively minor applications, AI-related brands are sometimes championing traditional creative processes. Take the new animated mascot for the GitHub Copilot app, for example. It was modelled, rigged and animated in Blender (see our guide to the best animation software). But does shouting about that make it hypocritcal?
...And that means it can also be pulled into the web and made interactive with Threejs ( play with it yourself at https://t.co/8RwkzLP9Am)... pic.twitter.com/H8YZpM5BY7May 14, 2026
GitHub is a Microsoft-owned cloud-based platform where developers can store, share, and collaborate on software code. GitHub Copilot is its AI-powered coding assistant, which, like the standard Copilot in Windows, was developed with OpenAI, in which Microsoft is a major investor (see our guide to AI productivity tools).
The new animation shows GitHub's mascot Octocat cooking. In the post above, Cameron Foxley, GitHub's principal brand designer, reveals that he created it himself in Blender and then made it interactive using the JavaScript library Threejs.
"In the age of AI slop, some of us are still making things by hand, I promise," Cameron wrote on X.
Many people are expressing appreciation for that commitment to craft. "When anyone can spit out content fast, the hand-built details are what actually make it feel worth looking at," one person comments.
But even more people see a striking irony in the emphasis on human creativity over "AI slop" when the branding is for an AI-powered chatbot. GitHub Copilot isn't an image generator, but it does seem strange to criticise AI art when promoting a generative AI tool. Isn't that antithetical to the spirit of the product?
"I don't get it. Are you boasting that you are not using AI, or saying that AI is not good enough for this task yet? GitHub Copilot is an AI slop machine," one person commented.
"Did you just say the animated cat for the AI slop app wasn’t made with AI?" someone else asked.
"Bro, you don't get to be a contributing factor to the AI Slopocalypse and wash yourself of the guilt by talking about making the logo in Blender." another person wrote.
Certainly an achievement in these times... but I find the use of the term "by hand" curious; your technique was once considered "cheating" for some time. pic.twitter.com/GHyUAD4w5TMay 17, 2026
eh... pic.twitter.com/9HHRzONzTEMay 16, 2026
GitHub Copilot app is already available in browser and as a command-line interface agent. The animation was made for that upcoming launch of a new desktop app. For access to the technical preview, you can join the waitlist .
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