'Wallace and Gromit' fans outraged after discovering major problem with the iconic claymation art: 'We are entering a weird era'

As AI technology becomes more advanced, it is becoming increasingly difficult for consumers to distinguish between real and AI-generated images.

However, in a recent Instagram post made by digital news publisher LADbible, it didn't take an eagle-eyed expert to notice the company's use of an image clearly generated by AI.

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The Instagram post, which announced that the animated film "Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl" received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, showed an image of the titular characters wearing suits and holding Oscar trophies.

Users were tipped off that the photo was AI-generated after noticing an extra row of teeth in Wallace's mouth, as well as missing fingers and awkward proportions. A mouth on Gromit, whose character design doesn't include one, and his creepy flesh-colored nose also tipped users off.

This is not the first time the characters have been the source of AI frustrations, with the official 4K remasters having faced allegations of using AI.

Despite AI technology improving, fails like this one highlight how, in many cases, the use of AI in media is worsening user experiences, all while using massive amounts of precious, finite resources.

According to one study on AI energy usage, generating a single AI image uses as much energy as it would take to fully charge a smartphone.

As the demand for AI increases, so does its energy usage. Another study predicted that by 2027, energy consumption by AI servers created that year alone would be equivalent to the yearly energy use of a small country — think Argentina, the Netherlands, or Sweden.

Such dramatic statistics don't even consider AI's water usage, which is required to cool the complex systems as they analyze data. Experts project its water usage could surpass 6.6 billion cubic meters by 2027, indicating an urgent need to reduce AI's water consumption.

Decreasing the casual use of AI by individuals and companies is a good start, especially when there are other resources available, like human writers and artists.

Should we be digging into the ground to find new energy sources? Definitely 👍 No way 👎 As long as it's not near me 🏠 As long as it's clean energy 🔋 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

A Reddit post sharing LADbible's embarrassing AI failure had no shortage of users calling out the company's AI use, especially given the availability of other resources specifically for Wallace and Gromit content.

"Why would they use AI for this when there are plenty of images of W&G at award ceremonies before this?" wrote one user. "It's f------ abhorrent."

Another person said, "It feels especially grim to make Wallace and Gromit with AI. [Britain's] finest [hand-crafted] characters, with paid workers and [a] human touch."

"I honestly think we are entering a weird era where people just don't make things anymore and it is so depressing," wrote another.

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