Tedeschi Trucks Band apologized to fans Sunday after an online revolt against a tour poster that appears to have been generated by artificial intelligence.
“We would like to apologize to the artist community that we find ourselves in this unfortunate situation,” the band posted on its Instagram account Sunday, following a pair of shows at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on July 26 and 27, where the poster was being sold as an artist-created work. “Going forward we will be refining our review process to prevent this from ever happening again.”
The band added that it will be donating all proceeds from the sale of the poster to Access Galler, a Denver-based, nonprofit art studio that caters to people with disabilities. Tedeschi Trucks Band sells prints of its tour and show posters online for $35-$75, according to its website.
The flap is the latest example of a creative group saying it has been duped by a supposed AI-generated piece of art. Some fans questioned Dead and Company online in May for using a suspected AI poster for its May 18, 2024, concert at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
An Instagram account called AI Cop regularly posts images of suspected AI concert posters — including the Dead and Company image — with other promotional images approved by Brandi Carlile, The Dead South, System of a Down, Dave Matthews Band, and Primus, as well as festivals such as Alma’s Elevation.
Some have argued that AI robs jobs from real artists and presents an aesthetically awful, creepy alternative that rips off existing art. Others, like Colorado designer Jason Allen, have sued the U.S. Copyright Office for AI-assisted work, asserting that the human element prompts the same legal protections that other creatives and designers enjoy.
That parallels a raft of social media accounts and online services openly offering AI products aimed at concert-poster generation, and a backlash against AI skeptics that paints them as joyless nitpickers. (Fans did correctly point out that the background in the Tedeschi Trucks poster looks nothing like Red Rocks). The image was created by Brilliant Workshop, which describes itself as an artist collective and design/print studio.
“We would like to express our gratitude for our fans’ concern for the creative community,” the band said in its Instagram post. “In our development process, we believed we were giving an artist with a reputable portfolio in other disciplines or art a first opportunity to create a gig poster.”