A keen-eyed Powell’s Books customer who noticed a “wonky” graphic on one of the store’s T-shirts for sale — then posted the image to the social media platform Reddit last week — ignited an uproar among the Portland bookseller’s devoted fan base over the company’s suspected reliance on artificial intelligence.
The post drew hundreds of social media comments and prompted scorn from the bookseller’s employees union, which said the company has been “unmoved” by employee concerns about its use of AI in merchandise.
In a statement Saturday, Powell’s acknowledged the public relations mess and said it had hired a local artist who was assisted by AI software to create “the designs on our merch.”
The T-shirt that sparked the inferno of criticism features what at first glance appears to be a hand-drawn sketch of a sharp-clawed, snarling wolf standing atop a stack of books. “Powell’s Books,” it says. “Fiercely Independent Since 1971.”
But a closer look reveals problems flagged by the Reddit user, including something wrong with the bindings of the books. At least two books appear to have bindings that stretch only partway down the spine, then show the books’ exposed pages. Another book appears to morph into the spine of a different book.
“Once I got home I noticed the wonky… book bindings, and something seemed off about the wolf,” wrote the Reddit user Front_Refrigerator99. “I’m definitely returning it and letting them know that it’s ridiculous to push slop when they have people throwing themselves at them for this kind of work!”
In a post on Saturday, Powell’s Books said the local artist that it hired to create the image used “Adobe tools, which now include some AI-assisted features.”
“We value the work of human artists and designers, and we remain committed to keeping Powell’s designs rooted in creativity and imagination,” the post read. It also said the company is “already working on new apparel for the holidays and spring, and we would love to invite local artists who are interested in helping us create new designs.”
Sunday, a day after Powell’s public explanation, stacks of the neatly folded T-shirts and hoodie sweatshirts bearing the wolf graphic hung from a clothing rack at the company’s flagship store on West Burnside Street, selling for $32 and $58 respectively. Others showed an ornery-looking cat with its claw gripping the top of a book. A woman who bought a wolf T-shirt Sunday said she hadn’t heard of the controversy.
But some of the social media users who’ve posted more than 650 comments on Reddit or Facebook expressed outrage at the internationally beloved bookstore for allowing the use of AI while at the same time housing hundreds of thousands of books, which are pieces of intellectual property created by human minds.
“AI is theft,” posted one Facebook user.
Chimed in Reddit user nutt3rbutt3r, “AI unfortunately allows for a new kind of ‘artist’ — aka con artist.”
But not everyone condemned Powell’s. A Facebook user offered supportive words: “Who cares? AI is the future, like it or not. It’s like resisting electricity. There is just no way to stop it. So if there are AI assisted designs, okay. (The) world has more pressing issues.”
In a Sunday Facebook post, the union for Powell’s workers, ILWU Local 5, urged the bookseller’s leadership to “take a decisive and public position on generative AI.”
“A company whose entire business model is dependent on human creativity should be safeguarding against any technology that exploits, devalues, or displaces it,” the post said.
The union said it appreciated that Powell’s was responding to the controversy but lamented “the fact that it took public outcry for them to do so.”
“This fraught and embarrassing situation,” the union said, “could have been easily avoided, as Powell’s workers have been raising concerns about the apparent use of AI in the company’s branded merch for months, to no avail.”
Powell’s Saturday statement did not respond to the union’s allegation that workers had been complaining for months.
The dust-up over AI comes after Powell’s acknowledged last week that it’s struggling to financially recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and laid off 18 employees this summer.
— Reporter Aimee Green covers politics, personal finance and issues that matter to consumers. She can be reached at 503-294-5119, agreen@oregonian.com or on Bluesky.
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