Why AI looks cheap and ugly <3

20.05.26 | By Clare Taylor

Luxury shoppers want human-made craft, not computer-generated perfection.

I’m about to talk about billiard balls. Just let me cook.

Early billiard balls were made from elephant tusks or tortoise shells. While durable and manipulable, these ‘natural plastics’ were hard to harvest and required significant skill to craft into the perfectly round balls required for the game. This made them luxurious. Expensive. It defined billiards as a game for the wealthy. A class signifier. It was known as “The Noble Game of Billiards.” Go off, King.

In 1907, Leo Baekeland invented Bakelite. This was the first fully synthetic plastic. It had everything the natural plastics did, but it was cheap, easy to mass produce and didn’t kill turtles. Thanks to Bakelite, perfectly round billiard balls didn’t have to be carved or plied to smooth perfection. They could be moulded that way, en masse. Which is exactly what happened.

The balls were the same quality. Maybe even superior. Smoother. More perfect. But they were made differently. More cheaply.

And this transformed them from luxury symbol to pub staple.

PSYCH! The blog isn’t about billiard balls! It’s about AI!!!

Luxury backlash.

Before AI, design and copy came at a premium. If you wanted a smooth rendered image, a perfectly articulated paragraph or an expertly type-set document, it took a craftsman to do it. But with OpenAI and Anthropic, anybody with an email address and a wilful dismissal of environmental impacts can whip these things up. Cheaply. Easily. But instead of being lauded for their innovation, luxury brands that use AI are fast becoming the subject of memes and paranoia.

Take the rage at Valentino’s AI video campaign. Peruse the comments…yowch.

Or the ire at Gucci’s ‘AI Slop’ in the lead up to its Milan Fashion Week show.

On one hand, these responses are a little surprising. Luxury fashion is all about innovation and being on the front foot of culture. AI embodies those ideas. But on the other hand, this anger makes total sense. The value proposition of a luxury fashion brand lies in its use of expensive-but-superior creative processes and manufacturing methods. Hand beading, stitching, pattern making. Creative intentionality, auteurism, ideation. Palming off the work to a robot is the opposite of that.

AI is a sign of cut corners. And even though luxury has long been cutting them, customers don’t want to see it so blatantly.

Before AI, design and copy came at a premium. If you wanted a smooth rendered image, a perfectly articulated paragraph or an expertly type-set document, it took a craftsman to do it. But with OpenAI and Anthropic, anybody with an email address and a wilful dismissal of environmental impacts can whip these things up. Cheaply. Easily. But instead of being lauded for their innovation, luxury brands that use AI are fast becoming the subject of memes and paranoia.

Take the rage at Valentino’s AI video campaign. Peruse the comments…yowch.

Or the ire at Gucci’s ‘AI Slop’ in the lead up to its Milan Fashion Week show.

On one hand, these responses are a little surprising. Luxury fashion is all about innovation and being on the front foot of culture. AI embodies those ideas. But on the other hand, this anger makes total sense. The value proposition of a luxury fashion brand lies in its use of expensive-but-superior creative processes and manufacturing methods. Hand beading, stitching, pattern making. Creative intentionality, auteurism, ideation. Palming off the work to a robot is the opposite of that.

AI is a sign of cut corners. And even though luxury has long been cutting them, customers don’t want to see it so blatantly.

What's AI good for, then?

Do you get these AI-made YouTube ads? If not, allow me to describe: With Clockwork Orange levels of rapture, I imbibe these soulless, PowerPoint-style ads which flick between uninspiring imagery, irrelevant products, and dazzling swipe-transitions revealing…the brand’s name…in a new font! That, or I’m lectured by a suspiciously toned personal finance expert with 6 fingers and glitching hair. He wants me to buy his dropshipping course. I want him to buy me dinner <3

It’s possible that we humans are so base that flashing colours, discounts and brand names at us will open our wallets. It doesn’t work on me, but maybe I’m the hyperintelligent exception to the rule. Wouldn’t be the first time. It’s lonely at the top…

In all seriousness, I think AI-generated advertising might work for things like pet food and fast fashion. Lower investment, staple categories where ads function to remind you of product features, price or promotions. The ads don’t have typos, they’re ~effectively~ animated, include key search terms, product images and brand cues. Nice and smooth. Like a billiard ball. A cheap, plastic billiard ball.

Do you get these AI-made YouTube ads? If not, allow me to describe: With Clockwork Orange levels of rapture, I imbibe these soulless, PowerPoint-style ads which flick between uninspiring imagery, irrelevant products, and dazzling swipe-transitions revealing…the brand’s name…in a new font! That, or I’m lectured by a suspiciously toned personal finance expert with 6 fingers and glitching hair. He wants me to buy his dropshipping course. I want him to buy me dinner <3

It’s possible that we humans are so base that flashing colours, discounts and brand names at us will open our wallets. It doesn’t work on me, but maybe I’m the hyperintelligent exception to the rule. Wouldn’t be the first time. It’s lonely at the top…

In all seriousness, I think AI-generated advertising might work for things like pet food and fast fashion. Lower investment, staple categories where ads function to remind you of product features, price or promotions. The ads don’t have typos, they’re ~effectively~ animated, include key search terms, product images and brand cues. Nice and smooth. Like a billiard ball. A cheap, plastic billiard ball.

Imagining the future of luxury.

If AI has made smoothness, perfection and efficiency cheap and accessible, then it stands to reason that the new age of luxury will be defined by texture, imperfection, and inefficiency.

We can already see this in the sudden proliferation of hand-drawn fonts and graphic elements and organic packaging shapes. Loewe has just announced their craft fair, championing everything handmade. Dior has released a bag envisioned by fiber artist, Sheila Hicks. Bergdorf’s hired Jenny Walton to create hand-illustrated bags. There’s an obvious return to slow, imperfect and obviously hand crafted.

Looking to the future, I wonder if bespoke tailoring will replace prêt-à-porter designer wear (shout out to G Galati, the impish tailor of Elgin Street). Maybe the new luxury will be ordering from an Instagram baddie with a 2-year-long waitlist, who knits one piece at a time alongside her BFA in Fashion. Maybe we’ll see craftspeople sporting bondage-style workwear à la early Vivienne Westwood, moving in slow, mesmerising fashion as they livestream the painstakingly inefficient process of making your next luxury purchase.

Maybe we’ll get rid of logos, opting instead for a word written by one particular human hand, over and over. Maybe Gucci will hire a guy to write “Gucci” in felt tip pen on every collar. I wouldn’t mind that.

Maybe we’ll fork out thousands for the disclaimer; “This product may not appear as pictured. Every item is handmade and subject to change in weather conditions and craftsman’s whims.”

If AI has made smoothness, perfection and efficiency cheap and accessible, then it stands to reason that the new age of luxury will be defined by texture, imperfection, and inefficiency.

We can already see this in the sudden proliferation of hand-drawn fonts and graphic elements and organic packaging shapes. Loewe has just announced their craft fair, championing everything handmade. Dior has released a bag envisioned by fiber artist, Sheila Hicks. Bergdorf’s hired Jenny Walton to create hand-illustrated bags. There’s an obvious return to slow, imperfect and obviously hand crafted.

Looking to the future, I wonder if bespoke tailoring will replace prêt-à-porter designer wear (shout out to G Galati, the impish tailor of Elgin Street). Maybe the new luxury will be ordering from an Instagram baddie with a 2-year-long waitlist, who knits one piece at a time alongside her BFA in Fashion. Maybe we’ll see craftspeople sporting bondage-style workwear à la early Vivienne Westwood, moving in slow, mesmerising fashion as they livestream the painstakingly inefficient process of making your next luxury purchase.

Maybe we’ll get rid of logos, opting instead for a word written by one particular human hand, over and over. Maybe Gucci will hire a guy to write “Gucci” in felt tip pen on every collar. I wouldn’t mind that.

Maybe we’ll fork out thousands for the disclaimer; “This product may not appear as pictured. Every item is handmade and subject to change in weather conditions and craftsman’s whims.”

Putting AI in its place.

Let me say that I am NOT making an argument against accessibility or people playing billiards at the pub. We can argue about the ethics of luxury brands until the cows come home, and then we could hide one of the cows and turn it into a bag that’s better quality than anything Louis Vuitton will ever produce. I am simply pointing out that as long as AI remains a tool that’s widely available, easy to use, and efficient—it will not be a signifier of luxury.

So, if you’re looking to take a higher price point, focus less on perfection and more on texture. Less on efficiency and more on process. Slow down and make mistakes. In an age of uncanny, synthetic smoothness, human imperfection is the ultimate luxury.

Let me say that I am NOT making an argument against accessibility or people playing billiards at the pub. We can argue about the ethics of luxury brands until the cows come home, and then we could hide one of the cows and turn it into a bag that’s better quality than anything Louis Vuitton will ever produce. I am simply pointing out that as long as AI remains a tool that’s widely available, easy to use, and efficient—it will not be a signifier of luxury.

So, if you’re looking to take a higher price point, focus less on perfection and more on texture. Less on efficiency and more on process. Slow down and make mistakes. In an age of uncanny, synthetic smoothness, human imperfection is the ultimate luxury.