Fans of songwriter and Glastonbury Festival headliner Neil Young were left disappointed by the “AI art” seen on the release of upcoming soundtrack album, Coastal.
The soundtrack album ties in with a documentary film of the same name, directed by Daryl Hannah. But fans are split on whether the cover art has been artificially generated or is from a working artist. Artists like Electric Light Orchestra have come under fire for using generative artificial intelligence during their live shows. A post to the r/NeilYoung subreddit saw one user write: “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m 90% sure this album art is AI.” Users have since pointed to “tell-tale random artifacts” on the cover art, which could suggest the image was, at the very least, digitally manipulated.
Others, however, suggested the art was already in use some months before artificial intelligence could generate images of such quality. One user wrote: “It’s a black and white version of one of the posters from the 2023 tour. The artist, Lauren Fisher, is listed in the album credits on Neil Young Archives. Her other work is on Instagram: nothing of this style though, lots of digital animation for sports ads. Neil Young Archives art director Jenice Heo is once on board for design, credited alongside Neil and Daryl.”
Another user wrote: “Seems to be the same as the image used on the tour posters. That page doesn’t list an artist (if there is one), but maybe another one does?” A third added: “Yeah, I have this poster from the summer 2023 tour. Doesn’t appear to be AI to me?”
One user pointed out this black and white colouration could be the reason the image looks somewhat different. They wrote: “The colour version doesn’t look AI. It’s two years old and AI wasn’t being used a tonne then. Now, yes.”
A listing for the album lists Lauren Fisher and Daryl Hannah as the cover artwork artists.
But some users are adamant the original image is, at the very least, partly generated with artificial intelligence. One user wrote: “If it is then it’s not very good. The parallax on the NEIL YOUNG lettering doesn’t match the windows.”
Another added: “As someone who works in the creative industry and has explored many AI tools from a research perspective, this is AI. Yes, AI was used less in 2023 when this was made, it was also less advanced which is precisely why I think we can notice the tell tale signs in this set of images.
“Unfortunately now it is getting harder and harder to pick up on these things. As has been pointed out, the credited artist does not make work often in this style. Maybe a collaboration with AI but the presence of AI is there nonetheless.”
A third wrote: “No, I think you’re right. There are tell-tale random artifacts in here. Like the random non-wiper blade on the front. The inconsistencies in the windows and the uneven spacing of the hole?s above the windows. I’m a huge Neil Young fan, and I don’t blame him for this, they probably showed it to him and he couldn’t tell it was AI. I’m sure if he knew he’d be disappointed.”
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Definitely AI generated. Look at the railroad ties. They are a mess and don’t even connect to each other. The rocks that go along the rails is another sign. A real artist would never do that bad of a job,