Gorillaz fans believe the band has used artificial intelligence for background images and video on The Mountain tour.
The Damon Albarn-fronted group has made use of artwork from Jamie Hewlett since its inception, but some fans believe there are digitally manipulated images being used by the band on this tour. Gorillaz will perform the second 3Arena show tonight (April 2) in Dublin, Ireland, before a series of European festival dates and a show at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in June. Despite the outstanding new album and surprise setlist inclusions seen on the group’s UK and Ireland tour so far, some fans believe the group has utilised artificial intelligence for part of the show. Both Albarn and Hewlett have denied this is the case, but some fans remain unconvinced.
A part of the show features a “big red button” moment, with Albarn pressing the device to cue a series of random images displayed on the screen behind. Hewlett explained the idea in a direct message to a fan asking about whether this had been artificial intelligence at play. He replied: “It’s not Generative AI, the mash up clips have been made before by Swear.
“They prepared 10 different clips that would play randomly when prompted by Damon on stage. It’s just a fun idea.” But an image of the jeep featured on Gorillaz’s debut album has fans unconvinceed, with the “nonsenseical” image in the background seen by some as an example of artificial intelligence at play.
One fan took to X and wrote: “I’m not convinced. The Jeep thing they did wasn’t just a picture, and there have never been any visuals where it’s been animated in this way. also it looks incredibly fucked up and nonsensical. I’m normally the one to defend Jamie from AI accusations, but come on.
“I don’t believe he’s lying necessarily (although he has been lying about the short film and about his own illustrations using ‘no digital technology’) I would say this is more on SWEAR’s end and that he doesn’t realise, in the same way he doesn’t know his own band makes CDs.”
Fans are split on whether Albarn and Hewlett have in fact used AI, though the pair say they have done nothing of the sort. One fan wrote: “I’m somewhat convinced that Damon and Jamie don’t truly fully understand what’s going on production-wise and that they don’t fully understand Gen AI either.”
Another added: “Why the fuck would the guy who spent 18 months making a hand-drawn animated short film as a statement of AI, want to promote Gen AI. Are you that dense, or do you actually think you’re doing some good by trying to cancel that same guy?”
A third wrote: “From day one, Damon and Jamie have stated how much they despise AI, so why did anyone assume they were suddenly okay with it in their shows in the first place?”
