Coca-Cola embraces controversial AI image generator with new “Y3000” flavor
Enlarge (credit: Coca-Cola)
Coca-Cola has taken a fizzy leap into the future of AI hype with the release of CocaCola Y3000 Zero Sugar, a "limited-edition" beverage reportedly co-created with artificial intelligence. Its futuristic name evokes flavor in the year 3000 (still 977 years away), but its marketing relies on AI-generated imagery from 2023-courtesy of the controversial image synthesis model Stable Diffusion.
Stable Diffusion, a technology that is mentioned by name when launching the "Coca-Cola Y3000 AI Cam" mobile app, gained its ability to generate images by scraping hundreds of millions of copyrighted works found on the Internet without copyright-holder permission and is currently the subject of litigation related to copyright infringement.
But there is no hint of that controversy in Coca-Cola's marketing materials, which lean heavily into today's buzzy, AI-centered tech zeitgeist.