Taylor Swift’s latest promotional campaign has once again sent her fans into detective mode, but this time, not everyone is impressed.
On October 4, fans who searched Taylor’s name on Google were greeted with a custom animation revealing twelve international cities — Berlin, Barcelona, Paris, Milan, London, Melbourne, Santa Monica, New York, Nashville, Chicago, Beverly Grove, and Las Vegas — each connected to mysterious “orange doors” appearing around the world.
Each door featured a QR code that led to exclusive YouTube Shorts filled with cryptic imagery and hidden letters. The videos, supposedly tied to clues about a larger mystery, depict surreal scenes: a wooden bar with a checkbook (referencing the lyrics of Father Figure), a garden teeming with creatures like a “Reputation”-style serpent and a squirrel reminiscent of fiancé Travis Kelce’s old tweet, and even a penthouse with an overflowing bathtub and toppled trophy.
However, what began as an exciting scavenger hunt quickly soured once fans realized the videos were AI-generated.
For an artist who’s spent years preaching about “supporting artists’ rights,” Swift’s decision to use AI instead of employing real creatives is more than tone-deaf; it feels downright hypocritical. She’s one of the wealthiest celebrities in the world, who could’ve paid dozens of human artists to craft something meaningful, but instead signed off on using AI slop for this campaign.
“It’s such a slap in the face to anyone working in that field,” one fan wrote. “She easily could’ve hired real artists, and she’s still a billionaire.”
Others expressed disappointment at the hypocrisy: “Of course, she used AI. She’s about supporting artist’s rights. No plural, only hers.”
Many have called the decision utterly demoralizing, particularly given Taylor Swift’s own history as a target of AI misuse. Just last year, she faced a barrage of deepfakes and even a fake AI-generated video circulated by Donald Trump’s campaign during his presidential run. Fans who once rallied to defend her from that kind of exploitation now see this campaign as a betrayal, not only to them, but to every creative professional she’s long claimed to champion.
Fans have also accused Swift’s team of quietly blocking searches for “Taylor Swift AI” and “Taylor AI” on X (formerly Twitter), further fueling frustration. “She’s a billionaire and decided to release AI slop for an album that’s already out,” another comment read. “That’s so embarrassing.”
Some, however, speculate that the scavenger hunt might be teasing something new, perhaps another album or conceptual project, rumored to be titled The Death of a Showgirl, or even a tie-in to upcoming film festivals in the featured cities.