LEGO faces backlash after seemingly using AI-generated images again
The LEGO Group has come under fire for seemingly using AI-generated images again, this time in conjunction with Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team.
Earlier this week, the official Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team Twitter account shared a new poster designed to promote 42165 Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance Pull-Back ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix on April 7. The artwork features the LEGO logo, the Mercedes logo and Lewis Hamilton’s signature, along with the LEGO Technic car racing down a Japanese street lined with cherry blossom trees. A minifigure of Hamilton – which doesn’t physically exist – sits in the bottom left.
The responses to the poster have not been what anyone would describe as favourable, largely because it appears to have been generated using AI. The background features tell-tale signs of AI imagery, including the unusual branches on the trees, and Twitter users have branded it ‘embarrassing’, ‘disrespectful’ and ‘a cheap move’, calling Mercedes out for not hiring an actual artist to produce the poster. And it’s not the only brand taking flak for the image.
Beyond just including its logo on the poster, the LEGO Group has publicly endorsed the image by replying to the original tweet with: “Quick pit stop and we’re on our way there!” Several responses to that tweet have criticised the Danish company for using AI, not least because it recently clarified its policy ‘not to use generative AI to create LEGO content’.
That statement was released after fans picked up on AI-generated images used for a children’s NINJAGO quiz, provoking a backlash across social media and on the LEGO Ambassador Network. At the time, the LEGO Group reaffirmed its belief in ‘the wonder and power of human creativity’ and said it will ‘continue to encourage and celebrate the talented artists who help bring our brand and characters to life’.
However, the statement did conclude with the following: “We believe generative AI offers interesting opportunities and we will continue to explore how we can use it to improve the experiences we offer and our ways of working.” The LEGO Group didn’t share specific contexts in which it might take advantage of generative AI, but the first half of the statement defined it as areas other than ‘LEGO content’.
While this poster was first published by Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, it’s clearly a collaboration between the two brands – not least because, as Ashnflash points out, certain LEGO regions (such as LEGO Japan) have shared the image directly to their own social channels.
The LEGO Group has been contacted for comment but has not yet shared an official response. You can check out its previous statement on the use of generative AI in full here.
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