In the enchanting realm of artificial intelligence, where innovation meets imagination, a deceptive tale unfolds. This happened in Glasgow, Scotland where the stage was set for "Willy's Chocolate Experience," an event shrouded in promises and painted by the brushstrokes of AI-generated allure.
Hosted by a company named House of Illuminati, it invited families to a world crafted by algorithms, only to reveal an empty warehouse adorned with lackluster decor. As the curtain lifts on this curious episode, it illuminated not just the disappointments of a chocolate fantasy gone awry but delved into the surreal landscape of AI in marketing.
The organisers of this "farce" event charged attendees for this so-called "immersive experience", based on the Warner Bros film. Each ticket carried a price of £35, equivalent to nearly Rs 3,700. Here's how it unfolded.
How AI was used for deceptive marketing
The event marketed using AI-generated images promised to create a remarkable fusion of surreal elements, such as, towering mushrooms, abundant candy canes, flowing rivers of chocolate from fountains, and an extravagant audio-visual display.
Instead of real photos, the website had showcased vibrant AI-generated illustrations and promised a "chocolate fantasy," "magical surprises," and "optical marvels."
Adding to the spectacle, the eccentric Oompa-Loompas, the pint-sized, orange-clad workers from Wonka's chocolate factory, were expected to narrate the entire experience with their unique dance routines.
Upon arriving at the venue, families discovered that the event was situated in an industrial area of Glasgow. The setting was a sparsely adorned warehouse featuring a few plastic props, a bouncy castle, and backdrop wallpapers, as reported by The Guardian.
One of the hired actors for the event has alleged that the company responsible for the event, used AI to compose the script for the event. The script reportedly included nonsensical phrases and introduced strange characters not found in the original books or related movies.
The actor, who spoke to The Independent, said that he was hired at the very last minute and was sent a script that was “15 pages of AI-generated gibberish of him just monologuing these mad things.”
Eventually, complaints were officially filed against the organisers, who have now promised to give full refunds to customers within 10 days.
AI and the marketing illusions
The chaos of the "Willy's Chocolate Experience" throws light on the minimal obstacles involved in deploying deceptive marketing for the sole reason of profit and how efficiently AI can potentially streamline the execution of such scams.
This isn't the first instance of AI images being employed to create a misleading perception. Allegedly, Uber Eats used AI-generated images of food from restaurants without pictures, and some of the representations turned out to be inaccurate.
In New York City, a pizza is commonly called a "pie", which posed a challenge for AI image generators trained on fruit pies. Consequently, when a pizzeria in the city advertised a "half buffalo chicken and half BBQ chicken pie" on Uber Eats, the AI generated an image of a savory pastry, diverging significantly from the actual pizza being offered.
A recent investigation by 404 Media delved into the utilisation of AI by ghost kitchens. These are delivery-only restaurants that frequently depend on other eateries to prepare their meals and promote their offerings through other platforms. The focus of the report was on how AI is employed to generate images of their menu items.
The report noted, "In these cases the ghost kitchens are showing people pictures of food that literally doesn’t exist, and looks nothing like the actual items they’re selling, sometimes because the faulty AI is producing physically impossible food items."