In November 2025, Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, became the latest victim of anti-AI public backlash.
So, what happened?
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A festive mural depicting Pilgrims gathering to celebrate the birth of Jesus was revealed to be AI-generated. From afar, the mural looked passable. It was not until up close that onlookers noticed the elementary proof.
Many of the Pilgrims’ faces were warped and deformed, while the animals appeared to blend into one another. If this were a marketing campaign for a new, Christmas adaptation of Alex Garland’s Annihilation, it would be a stroke of genius. But it was not.
Quickly, evidence of the ruse was disseminated on local community pages. From there, the story hit the social media algorithm, eventually going viral. Then the mainstream media picked it up, selling it as part of a new and emerging investigative genre—the AI exposé. As such, the story was rapidly overwhelmed by a familiar negativity—one that expects us to feel upset and lied to—neatly wrapped as a critique of the laziness, inauthenticity, and ugliness of modern society.
Yet this time the media narrative felt, dare I say, prompted. We’ve heard this story countless times before, in the film industry, in the publishing industry, and now here.
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By GlobalDataSilver linings
What, then, is different this time around? Well, nothing, really. All these stories are the same. It is how we interpret them that matters. It would be very easy to dismiss the backlash as misplaced or mindless. But one thing is being overlooked every time: people, finally, are talking about art.
Yes, for all who claim that AI is making us dumber and less critical of the world around us, there is a glaring hole in that argument: perhaps for the first time in decades, we are again talking about grand ideas and concepts, which had seemed to have disappeared from the social discourse. Debates around truth, authenticity, and artistry are descending from the ivory towers of academic institutions and industry panels into homes, schools, and workplaces.
Art for art’s sake
Everybody seems to have an opinion on AI, which is an excellent thing in a world seemingly dominated by apathy. Artists themselves are being forced to question what it means to produce an authentic expression, whether that is even the goal of art. That is a good thing.
Of course, some nuance would be ideal. Just having a debate for the sake of it achieves little. Especially when Big Tech is meanwhile investing billions in AI services that cause massive harm in the here and now. That does not mean ‘smaller’ issues like AI art are superfluous; instead, we should treat them as part of a broader discussion about the connected impacts of this technology. At the moment, purely negative sentiment siloes these perspectives.
Final thoughts Let’s go back to the mural. As an attempt at what might be called ‘proficient art’, it is undefendable. But it nevertheless succeeds in perhaps the key function of any good artwork: it makes us reflect on the world around us and the values we care about. It connects society, and for that, we should celebrate it.
