Pubs in Newcastle say they are seeing more and more artwork they believe to be designed using artificial intelligence (AI) from breweries - and have refused to display it. What does the rise of AI mean for independent artists who rely on design work for income?
Simon Hubbard runs The Mean Eyed Cat in Newcastle city centre and says he noticed "a spate of breweries who are just coming out with this absolutely dreadful AI slop", mainly the older and more established ones.
"You can just tell, it looks overly polished, overly perfect," he says. "Hands always look really weird on it."
And Hubbard is not the only one.
Following conversations with the Free Trade Inn, in Ouseburn, the two venues came together to announce on social media they would no longer be accepting AI art, including on bottles and pump clips, in order to try to protect local artists from losing out on work.
