For the release of her twelfth album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” Taylor Swift sent fans on an online scavenger hunt this weekend, which began by searching for “Taylor Swift” on Google. But as fans unveiled secret videos as part of the campaign, some fretted that the clips looked like they were AI-generated and were not pleased.
A Google search for the singer’s name yields a cryptic message: “12 cities, 12 doors, 1 video to unlock.”
Fans had to figure out the location of the doors, then physically find them and scan a QR code, which surfaced twelve unique videos that contained the clues needed to solve the puzzle. When fans Googled the correct phrase, another orange door appeared, which fans had to collectively “knock” on by clicking 12 million times. Finally, the door “opened,” revealing a lyric video for “The Fate of Ophelia,” which has its own orange door progress bar on YouTube.
YouTube had scored the video exclusive for the track, as well as the lyric videos from the remaining songs on the new album.
Google initially announced the scavenger hunt in a video on Instagram. The video begins with an aerial view of Earth, then quickly zooms in on a hilly, bejeweled landscape, until we see an orange door, overlayed with a Google search bar.
While Swifties love a puzzle, some were rubbed the wrong way by the 12 clue-containing videos, which looked to be AI-generated.
Instead of searching for clues to unveil Swift’s new lyric video, as Swift intended, some fans began to scour the video clips like detectives, looking for signs that the scenes were synthetic. However, while there are clips that look computer-generated, it’s unclear if they were made using AI, and if so, to what extent.
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It would make sense if these videos were generated using Google’s AI products. As OpenAI shows off its new Sora 2 video generator, this Taylor Swift collaboration would be a serendipitous opportunity for Google to show millions of Swifties what its Veo 3 model can do.
Google did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment on how these videos were generated or if Swift and Google worked together on this activation by using Google’s own AI technology. But Swift’s team and Google have teamed up for similar promotional activities in the past, we should note.
The use of AI in creative works is a sensitive subject. Some artists think these tools can help them, while others have protested the manner in which large language models are trained on their work without consent, effectively using artists’ own work to create the technology that could threaten their livelihoods.
Even Swift herself spoke out about the dangers of AI after President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated image of her showing support for his campaign last year; the incident spurred her to post an endorsement for former Vice President Kamala Harris, who ran against Trump in 2024.
“Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter,” she wrote on Instagram at the time.
The controversy around Swift’s possible use of AI is amplified given her own stature in the music industry.
While AI may appeal to some artists as a way to cut costs, the billionaire musician has every possible resource at her disposal to bring the fantastical scenes from her promotional videos to life.