The British Museum Posted AI Slop | Full Story with Updates

I posted a video and Instagram post on Sunday the 1st February reporting that the British Museum Posted AI Slop. Since then, I have some things I want to correct, update and add - including a British Museum ‘statement’ via a freedom of information request, evidence of a British Museum employee commenting weird stuff on the posts and additional things I and others have noticed.

On Tuesday, the 27th January, the British Museum posted four images. These are AI-generated images. The comments quickly realised and immediately called them out for this. Some speculated the account had been hacked, and honestly, that was my first thought too. Shortly after, the post was quietly deleted, with normal posting resuming. 

I commented on later posts asking them to address what had happened, genuinely concerned they’d been hacked, especially given the British Museum's recent IT security issues. Instead of responding, they unfollowed me and another archaeology creator, Steph the Archaeologist. Everyone I mention in this video will be in the description, so please check out their accounts too. The unfollowing of creators is also a strange move. This sets a precedent that if you speak out against the British Museum, you lose their ‘favour’, so to speak. This unfollowing prompted me to make my original post and video. I won’t lie, I was nervous making that post. I am an early-career archaeologist and heritage communicator. I only had 12,000 on Instagram and 900-ish on YouTube. Other than one article by artnet and a few other creators, I am one of the few people reporting on this.

The images appear to use an AI-generated model linked to a company called V8 Global. Two accounts were tagged: @ellylin1101 and @v8global.

Elly Lin appears to be a fully AI-generated persona associated with V8 Global, an “AI strategy agency.” She is still followed by the British Museum (as of 14:30, 5th Feb). Her bio states she is “a Fashion enthusiast Cozy lifestyle, and Interested in studying scamming as this the 1st step of anti-scam, in result learn a lot sales tips.” I shouldn’t need to tell you why this account is a massive red flag. V8 Global claims to “transform your business with AI-powered marketing technology.” They’re reportedly based in Hong Kong, founded in 2013, and claim over 700 clients, yet their social media presence doesn’t reflect that. I did some research on Companies House and found a company of the same name incorporated on 11 April 2025.

I originally thought they were promoting the new Hawaii exhibit, and that is the content I had seen the British Museum posting recently. However, they were more of a generic museum promo. The hashtag #YourMuseum is a user-generated content tag, and I messaged the AI model, and her response seems to confirm it was a user-generated content. 

This isn’t an excuse, but I feel I, and I presume others, would have been more forgiving if they deleted it and immediately made even just a story post informing people they accidentally shared some AI-generated user-made content. However, they chose silence and to unfollow creators.  Steph also estimated that the post was online for around six hours before it was removed. This was during working hours, I believe, and it is obvious that it is AI, especially once comments started pointing it out. 

Classics with Conor on Instagram submitted a freedom of information request, which Jane Parsons, Head of Strategic Communications of the British Museum, responded to. 

“Dear Conor,

Thank you for contacting the British Museum. The Compliance/Freedom of Information team have passed your email to me to respond. 

Our social media account has not been hacked.

We regularly share user-generated content as part of a broad range of content designed to appeal to our audiences. 

We recently shared a piece of user-generated content which used Al. We do not post Al-created images and, recognising the potential sensitivity, removed it. Given the increasing prevalence of Al in the sector we are in the process of creating guidelines on its use Museum-wide. 

We do sometimes post about Lego. And even rubber ducks.

Best wishes

Jane”

Steph pointed out to me that the sentence we do not post AI-created images is false; you did, whether someone meant to or not. They may aim not to, and I’d personally like to read these museum-wide guidelines. I would also like to say that if the British Museum wishes to contact me, please do, I would be happy to come and have discussions with you. My main issue here is transparency. To my knowledge, other than the article comment, this is the only confirmed official response, which was sent to one person. Thank you, Conor, for sending this to me. Their latest post seems to be referencing the AI post without acknowledging what has happened. 

While that might be the only confirmed official response, I believe a British Museum employee has been commenting on my own posts, others’ posts and replying to people on the British Museum page posts - all from their personal account. Mya @trowelanderror originally messaged me, almost jokingly, that a weird commenter had also started responding to my comments. Once I made my original Instagram post, they started commenting on that too. A selection of which are on the screen. Mya researched the name on the account, and someone in the British Museum has the same name. I also looked into them on LinkedIn and saw a picture of an individual who appeared to match a picture of an individual on their Threads account. It appears that this one user works at the British Museum, and on their private account, is commenting what I would call incredibly unprofessional things. The British Museum has not publicly made a statement yet. The only news outlet to currently report this is ArtNet, and CyberNews has also posted. It is positive that this is not the British Museum experimenting with AI social media posts themselves. If this were a genuine mistake, that is unfortunate. However, how they have handled this is more what I am trying to highlight. 

This is an institution already under constant scrutiny for its relationship with ‘stolen or contested’ artefacts and how they represent these artefacts. This post also embodies wider cultural issues when using generative AI. The model’s surname is Lin, which is a Chinese surname and ethnically appears to be Chinese. Artnet reported that in one image, the AI looks up at a Mexican stone figure of the Aztec fire-serpent Xiuhcoatl, a real object from the collection. Steph noted that, while in other images the AI model wears traditional East Asian clothes, here she wears what appear to be Mexican-style clothes, and this makes it seem the culture is interchangeable. I don’t know about anyone else on my museum visits. I don't switch outfits to be more ‘culturally’ in line with an exhibition, as that would be very strange.  Datasets that are used to develop AI have also been overwhelmingly western orientated.

I have also had it highlighted to me that there are British Museum higher-ups who have connections with OpenAI, which is the AI company that developed ChatGPT. George Osborne, the former Chair of the British Museum, was hired by OpenAI in December 2025 to lead its "OpenAI for Countries" division. Furthermore, in June 2025, it was announced that Sir Jony Ive, who co-founded the AI-focused design company LoveFrom (which has ties to OpenAI), was appointed as a trustee of the British Museum. Gen AI is also very bad for the planet, and the British Museum quietly set up a new 10-year partnership with BP, an oil and gas company, to significant backlash. This altogether does not paint an environmentally conscious organisation. 

I think this is more than just a post and signifies more about generative AI in the heritage sector, and I said it previously is ‘ethically messy’. I am planning to do more research on this topic and put out more posts about the wider issues. This video is more about the British Museum and its lack of transparency. If you are going to use AI or even use it accidentally, you have to let people know, as in some cases, it can be so hard to tell what is real or fake, especially when the people who know won’t tell you. I know it is easy to joke, but it is the British Museum. What do you expect? I should be able to expect more, expect integrity and be able to hold them accountable without fear of being silenced or being seen as controversial. 

If you have any thoughts on this and the wider AI debate in heritage, please comment below, and I find it interesting and want to do more research. I would like to thank everyone for subscribing. I recently hit 1k on YouTube and 16k on Instagram, which I am insanely proud of. I hope I can be a creator people can enjoy, but also trust is reputable.