If 2023 taught us anything, there’s a palpable—and warranted— fear of Artificial Intelligence (AI) breathing down designer’s necks and threatening to take their jobs.
Scotch whisky brand Label 5’s latest “City Lights” collection is a sign that the robots, for the time being, still have some catching up to do.
The brand used AI to create a bright, futuristic, fictional cityscape with unrealistically-shaped skyscrapers. Even the moon in the background has that AI, uncanny valley look to it.
Additionally, they used an algorithm to select a random spot from the cityscape as part of the label, meaning that no two Label 5 bottles in the limited-edition collection are alike. What’s more, Label 5 invited consumers to find their labels within the AI-generated cityscape via a dedicated website.
As AI tools become more readily available and the hype surrounding the technology enters the mainstream, more and more brands will continue to incorporate it into their branding and packaging, taking advantage of AI as a marketing buzzword.
AI for AI’s sake, however, doesn’t always turn out the best design. Yes, AI is powerful stuff, but it can’t totally serve as a substitute for a genuine designer (or at least not yet).
Label 5’s limited edition City Lights collection is available in the UK at Morrisons stores and on the distiller’s website.