Designers are raging at this film festival’s AI poster

AI has infiltrated almost every creative sector, and that doesn't exclude the film industry. Most recently, the Biarritz Film Festival was caught using AI artwork in its promotional poster, leading to heated backlash from creatives who had once held the international film festival in high esteem.

While there are certainly mindful ways to use AI properly as an extension of human creativity, rather than a replacement, Biarritz Film Festival's sloppy poster design demonstrates why many creatives are so hesitant to embrace the technology. With lacklustre visuals and a blatant, soulless artificial tinge, the poster is a prime example of what to avoid when it comes to AI art.

The poster in question features a model submerged underwater, surrounded by plump goldfish. With its uncannily perfect Gaussian-blurred visuals and saturated colour palette, the poster has a distinct AI feel that was instantly sniffed out by creatives.

"It is not a good poster. AI is not a solution if you suck as an artist," one Redditor commented on the r/graphic_design subreddit. "The sad thing is that this can be conceptually done with Photoshop in about 10 minutes flat. A more experienced designer could probably knock this out in 5," another added, while one user chimed in, "What pisses me off the most is that this garbage would not be approved if a human made it." Another user scathingly claimed, "Goes to show that just because you have a tool at your fingertips to generate what you want, it won’t make up for dogs**t creativity."

Sadly, this isn't the first time we've seen AI infiltrating the film sphere. Recently, Academy Award-winning drama The Brutalist was criticised for its open use of AI, leading to a heated ethical debate. That's not to say that AI art doesn't have a place in some spheres – AI artist Niceaunties is currently flipping the switch on AI sceptics with her culturally fused (and slightly barmy) AI creations.