“We are very much losing this battle against common sense when it comes to using generative AI,” Schnitt says, adding that if the videos are AI and Swift apologizes for it, the move could be “a touchstone moment” in the pushback against the technology.

Lobo, who also made a post using the #SwiftiesAgainstAI hashtag, doesn’t think Swift will comment on the backlash. She does think the pop star, whether she used AI or not, will be wary of doing so in the future out of fear of angering her fans. As a contrast to the promos, Lobo’s X post highlighted Swift’s 2017 lyric video for the song “Look What You Made Me Do,” which was designed by a motion design studio. Lots of fans responded to Lobo’s post noting they missed the artistry and attention to detail in some of Swift’s earlier lyric videos.

“Back then, when she wasn’t even as big as she is now, she was careful enough to hire someone to make something so beautifully and carefully done,” Lobo says. “I have a job that is threatened by AI, and AI just completely disregards the art and turns it into a product.”

While it’s unclear what AI models, if any, were used to generate the promo videos, Reality Defender’s Colman says there are some models trained on non-copyrighted data and others that tread into more unethical territory. But mainstream AI products offered by companies like OpenAI and