Pink Floyd Criticized Over AI Video Winning 50th Anniversary Contest

Welcome to the machine, indeed.

"People whom we love the most can hurt us the most." This quote resonated with many Pink Floyd fans over the weekend, following the announcement of the winners of the band's The Dark Side of The Moon 50th anniversary competition. While enthusiasts had high hopes to see visually stunning animations that would be on par with those from "The Wall" movie, their expectations were shattered when it was revealed that an AI-generated video was one of the contest winners, securing, aside from Pink Floyd's recognition, a hefty sum of £10,000 in prize money.

For context, the competition in question tasked digital creators with setting up animations for tracks from The Dark Side of The Moon, commemorating the album's 50th anniversary. After receiving close to a thousand entries, a panel of judges, including Kyle Alba, Anton Corbijn, Terry Gilliam, Daisy Jacobs, Nick Mason, Harry Pearce, Gerald Scarfe, Sarah Smith, and Alan Yentob, selected 10 winners – one for each of the album's songs – publishing the triumphant entries on Pink Floyd's official YouTube channel.

While most of the winners didn't raise any eyebrows, the winning submission for Any Colour You Like immediately sparked debate throughout the community, for the animation in question, authored by Damián Gaume, was made using generative AI. Enraged fans quickly flooded Pink Floyd's social media, criticizing both the judges and the band itself for selecting a clip generated by Stable Diffusion over other pieces made by real artists.

Attached below is a small selection of nice things disappointed fans had to say about the situation over on Twitter:

On YouTube, the situation isn't much different:

Following the backlash, neither the group nor the contest's organizers commented on the situation, leaving many to wonder whether Pink Floyd themselves have become just another brick in the wall dividing the community on the question of ethical AI use.

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Pink Floyd Enrages Fans by Picking an AI-Generated Video as a Winner of Its 50th Anniversary Contest

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