How did a nonsensical AI-generated mural set to appear in Glasgow city centre manage to get approval from the council, wonders Derek McArthur.

This week’s mystery: was the AI-generated mural allegedly set to go up on Elmbank Street in the city centre of Glasgow just a “classic case of social media blowing up a story where none truly exists?”

So, what is the current state of the story? This all came to light when the council approved a planning application for what is clearly an absurd AI creation, a prompt designed to hit all the generic ideas of Scottishness – William Wallace, Highland cows, its industrial heritage, and so on (oh, how depressingly easy it is to get approval for public art when it hits all the safe, twee notions of what the council wants).

And, in a now-classic AI blunder, it seems to have gotten mixed up and included an American bald eagle of all things. Have you ever seen a bald eagle and a Highland cow just hanging out like that? It would be uncouth.

The mural which has been granted planning permission (Image: Supplied)

All this, understandably, led to a furore arising online. Mainly at the gall of someone submitting this as a proposal for public art to be put onto a building that humans........

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