Did Taylor Swift, champion of artist rights, use AI promos?
What's the story
Taylor Swift, a singer who went against the industry to own her masters, is facing scrutiny over using artificial intelligence (AI) to promote her latest album, Life of a Showgirl. Before the album drops, fans noticed AI-generated elements in promotional videos that were released through QR codes on 12 orange doors in different cities. Despite no confirmation from Swift's team about using generative AI in these videos, fans are raising questions due to certain anomalies and inconsistencies observed in them.
Video inconsistencies
Nonsense lettering and clipping observed in videos
Once you scanned the orange doors, short snippets started playing, and each clip featured letters which, when put together, formed: "You must remember everything, but mostly this, the crowd is your king." However, these clips had weird clipping and disappearing imagery. The lettering on a treadmill in one video seems nonsensical, with buttons reading "MOP," "SUOP," and "NCLINE." Another image of a notebook also has made-up lettering that doesn't resemble human writing.
Twitter Post
Why did she have to resort to generative AI?
this is ai + either taylor is the powerful woman that has power over every aspect of her art (music, promo etc)so she definitely approved this or she doesn't let's not switch narratives only when it benefits taylors ok? pic.twitter.com/mCkplSDuxw
— fifo | the life of a showgirl 🍂🍁 (@closureblvd) October 5, 2025
Twitter Post
'Taylor Swift, a billionaire, is using AI for promotion'
This is AI, watch the hanger randomly disappear
— Happi (@HappiiFunTime) October 4, 2025
Taylor swift a billionaire, is using AI for promotion. https://t.co/OyzamoLdtQ pic.twitter.com/f4rp7fWBCT
Lack of response
No response from Swift's team or Google yet
Despite a lot of improvement, AI is notoriously bad at generating proper text and time - errors that were also visible in the videos. The videos seem to be part of a collaboration with Google, as reported by The Tennessean during the orange door reveal event in Nashville. Gizmodo reached out to Google for comment but did not receive a response before publication. Swift's team has not addressed the backlash either.
No AI in music videos
No evidence of AI use in Swift's other projects
Despite the speculation surrounding the promotional videos, it doesn't appear that generative AI was used in creating Swift's music videos for the new album or in her feature film. Last year, Swift had fallen prey to AI-morphed images on X, where pornographic deepfakes of the 35-year-old were spreading on the platform. X had to halt searches for "Taylor Swift" and "Taylor Swift AI."