TRANSPORT FOR IRELAND has apologised to critics for any “frustration” that was caused after it used art generated by artificial intelligence (AI art) in a promotional campaign this week.

The imagery was included in a promotional campaign for a contest that gave members of the public a chance to win €50 free travel credit on their Leap card if they correctly guessed who the characters portrayed in the AI art were.

Commenters quickly criticised the contest after people, including a number of Irish artists, pointed to the fact that the images were not original pieces of art that had been commissioned using a contractor.

To many, the images appeared to be AI-generated.

In a statement to The Journal,  Transport for Ireland (TFI) detailed that the agency it partnered with used an “AI filter” on existing images available from a Shutterstock stock image database.

It said that the idea to include Halloween characters in the images was floated by the third-party agency.

It added: “We thought this was a novel idea worth exploring for a small campaign as we’re always open to exploring the latest tools and technologies in the creative space in collaboration with our agencies.”

TFI said it has worked with photographers and artist-created images for its campaigns in the past and has since apologised to commenters for “the frustration caused” over the use of AI for the images.

TFI Leap are giving you the chance to win a 'trip or treat' this Halloween with a free 50EUR Leap Card!

To enter:
- Guess the ghouls who are travelling with Transport for Ireland
- Tag a friend that you would travel with
- Follow our page

Happy Halloween from all at TFI! 👻 pic.twitter.com/6fM7JPgmru

— Transport for Ireland (@TFIupdates) October 21, 2024

One user, Phil Dunne who is an illustrator, said he was “really disheartened” over the choice to use generated images over commissioning an artist.

“You could have hired an Irish illustrator and paid them for this type of promotion. It would help support the creative arts, and keep actual people in real jobs and who would use your services,” he wrote.

TFI has responded to many comments about the use of AI and told users that their remarks have been forwarded to the relevant department.

TFI told The Journal that it has welcomed the feedback from this campaign and will take it into consideration for its future campaigns. 

This is one of many instances where Irish artists and illustrators felt they were overlooked for work that they could’ve completed themselves. The GAA, most notably, received a wave of backlash over its decision to use AI art in a match-day programme.

Illustrator Barry Masterson wrote in The Journal‘s Voices section at the time and argued that work of an original artist versus the results of an AI-generated image are incomparable. He said companies should prioritise artists over machines.

He added: “I would never stand over the release of ‘artwork’ such as this and am so disappointed to see it creeping in to this area, given how much dedicated work goes into such creations normally.”