‘Keep human culture alive’: Halifax music venue takes a stand against AI posters

A popular Halifax music venue is taking a stand against event posters generated by artificial intelligence.

Gus’ Pub in the city’s north end has been supporting local artists for years. Going beyond just the music itself, the walls of the pub are littered with event posters crafted by local graphic designers.

But when show fliers generated by AI started creeping in, the bar pushed back.

“It just reflects our values as musicians and as the pub. This place is very artist-run, artist-centric. We have a really strong community of artists that come here of all different kinds, not just music,” said TJ Ploughman, who is a bartender at the pub and a musician.

“As a staff, we’re all musicians. We’re all artists. So we decided to just basically be the landmark for purely human artistry.”

Gus’ Pub recently shared a post on its Instagram page, announcing the venue will no longer be accepting AI event posters. Instead, if performers submit one for their booking, they’ll opt for a “No Name” template, which was created as a parody of Loblaws’ brand.

“We will give them resources. Sometimes even the manager, CJ, is very good at just whipping up a poster for somebody,” Ploughman added.

“It’s either do it yourself or get someone artistic to do it for you.”

The message struck a nerve and has generated thousands of online responses.

“There’s no soul in art created by AI because it looks all the same,” said Warlet.

The musician and graphic designer says she started losing clients as AI use became more prevalent. However, she believes more musicians have reached out to her for design work since Gus’ Pub took a stand.

“I feel like after AI, I stopped having commissions as much as I did years ago,” she said.

“I started doing this when I was like 16 and I was selling more art frequently. And after AI came to be, a lot of people stopped commissioning.”

One organization representing Nova Scotian visual artists says AI adoption in art and commercial spaces is a top concern for many in the industry.