Glasgow City Council planners grant permission for AI-generated mural for listed building

Glasgow City Council planners have signed off on an AI-generated mural featuring a North American bald eagle for a listed building.

The mural, which has been proposed by Balmore Estates Limited, depicts a worker in a flatcap and overalls looming over a steam train, wind turbines, highland cows, solar panels, and a stag against a forest with a loch and castles in the background.

But it also includes a bald eagle, which is not a native species to the UK or Scotland.

Comments online have slammed the mural as “AI nonsense” and “AI slop”.

A mural has been approved for a building on Elmbank Street, Glasgow, based on an AI-generated impression. Balmore Estates Limited/Glasgow City Council

Critics have said the mural has nothing to do with Glasgow, and have suggested that the North American bald eagle should be a golden eagle, which is native to Scotland.

In its planning application, the real estate firm said it wants to paint the “tasteful mural” on what it described as an “ugly roughcast” wall of a residential building in central Glasgow.

The planning statement said it hopes to “celebrate Scotland’s rich energy heritage and its ongoing commitment to renewable, sustainable energy sources”.

The image contains a number of telltale signs that it was generated using an AI tool – including the malformed heads of the birds and the smaller highland cow.

The application, which included the AI-generated image, described it as an “artist’s impression of proposed mural”.

But the director of Balmore Estates has said the AI-generated image “will have nothing to do with the mural” when it’s completed.

Derek Paterson told STV News: “It was merely an indicative drawing attempting to convey an idea on which the mural will be loosely based, but the artist will have licence to let his creative juices flow, within reason and subject to the Council’s guidelines.”

“The mural aims to capture the seamless integration of technology and nature that defines Scotland’s modern energy landscape, while paying homage to its natural beauty,” the application stated.

Glasgow City Council has been approached for comment.