Updated
Updated · NME · Aug 12
Brian May Blasts AI After Meta Bot Mangled Queen's 1980 'The Game' Cover
Updated
Updated · NME · Aug 12

Brian May Blasts AI After Meta Bot Mangled Queen's 1980 'The Game' Cover

3 articles · Updated · NME · Aug 12

Summary

  • Brian May posted a failed Meta AI recreation of Queen’s 1980 album cover “The Game,” using the distorted image to argue that “we actually don’t need AI.”
  • Instagram became his exhibit: after asking Meta AI to show the cover, May mocked the result as the kind of “intelligence” that could soon rule the world.
  • May widened the attack beyond one bad image, saying the cost of AI’s “inevitable” expansion is too high and urging Britain to block new data centres he says would damage the UK.
  • The comments add Queen’s guitarist to a growing list of creative figures criticizing AI, even as the band remains largely off the road after touring North America in 2023 and Asia in early 2024.

Insights

Why is a rock legend urging the UK Prime Minister to halt AI data centers before it is too late?
With AI generating thousands of fake songs daily, are massive data centers destroying our environment for the sake of artificial art?
Could the massive energy demands of new AI data centers spark a nationwide environmental revolt against Big Tech?