The posters advertising the International Rice Festival in Crowley, like countless others created for agricultural festivals across South Louisiana, are popular collectors’ items, showcasing Louisiana life in all its porch-jamming, kitchen-dancing, crawfish-boiling beauty.
Their releases are usually moments of big celebration. But not this year. When the design for the 88th International Rice Festival hit social media, it was slammed as “AI slop,” web slang for generic and increasingly ubiquitous images created with AI tools.
“This is not ‘art’ it is AI,” one comment read. “This does not reflect Louisiana artists. There are so many local artists that work hard to make beautiful, original art. Very sad to see this is the one that was chosen.”…