Artist Uses Genuine Monet to Test Social Media Bias and Hostility Toward AI Art

Since generative AI entered the creative arts, debate has often centered on whether its work has a “soul.” Artist SHL0MS disguised an authentic work by French Impressionist Claude Monet as an AI-generated image on X to test whether labels influence online reactions, highlighting preconceived bias against AI in creative industries.

Many users failed to recognize the genuine Monet, instead criticizing the work as poor quality and soulless. The experiment suggests that human judgment can also produce serious hallucinations. As of July 2026, reports had not disclosed the post’s exact date, engagement figures or any monetary amounts. They also covered other AI developments, including Manus cloud crawlers and ChatGPT integrations with financial services.