To release her twelfth album, “The Life of A Showgirl”, Taylor Swift sent fans to an online scanner hunt this weekend, which began searching for “Taylor Swift” on Google. But as the fans showed secret videos as part of the campaign, some seemed to see the clips as if they were created AI-and they were not happy.
A google search for the singer’s name gives a cryptic message: “12 cities, 12 doors, 1 video to unlock.”
Friends had to understand the position of the doors, then find them naturally and scan a QR code, which appeared 12 unique videos containing the indications needed to solve the puzzle. When the fans were shot by the correct phrase, another orange door appeared, which fans had to “hit” by clicking 12 million times. Finally, the door “opened”, revealing a lyrical video for “The fate of the Ephesia“He has his own orange door progress bar on YouTube.
YouTube had rated the Video exclusive for the pieceAs well as the Lyric videos from the rest of the songs on the new album.
Google initially announced scanning hunting in a Video on Instagram. The video begins with an aerial view of the Earth, and then quickly magnifies in a hill, melancholic Landscape, until we see an orange door, coated with a Google search line.
While Swifties I love a puzzle, Some were rubbing in the wrong way out of the 12 -containing videos, which seemed to be created AI.
Instead of looking for signs to reveal the new Swift video, as Swift was intended, some fans began cleaning the San Detective video clips, looking for scenes that the scenes were synthetic. However, while there are clips that look created on the computer, it is not clear if they were used using AI and if so, to what extent.
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It would make sense if these videos were created using Google AI products. As OpenAi shows the new Sora 2 video generator, this collaboration of Taylor Swift would be a Serendipitous Opportunity for Google to show millions of swifties what the VEO 3 model can do.
Google did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comments on how these videos were created or if Swift and Google collaborated on this activation using Google’s own AI technology. But the Swift team and Google have worked for similar advertising activities in the past, we should note.
The use of AI in creative works is a sensitive issue. Some artists believe that these tools can help them, while others have complained about how large linguistic models are trained in their work without consent, effectively using artists’ work to create technology that could threaten their means of living.
Even Swift himself talked about the dangers of AI, after President Donald Trump shared a picture that created AI showing his support in his campaign last year. The incident prompted her to post a endorsement For former Vice President Kamala Harris, who ran against Trump in 2024.
“I recently knew that the AI of ‘Me’ with Donald Trump’s illusion, Donald Trump’s presidential run was published on his website and really caused my fears about AI and the dangers of the misinformation. wrote On Instagram then.
The controversy over the possible use of AI by Swift is strengthened given its own resurrection in the music industry.
While AI may appeal to some artists as a way to reduce costs, the billionaire musician has every possible resource at her disposal to bring the fantastic scenes from her advertising videos to life.
