A cool but crazy AI image of a gangster bannana

When AI Art Goes Bananas: Lessons from Hallucinations and Hiccups

Published: July 1, 2025 | By Michael Carpenter

“AI art – what could go wrong?” It sounds like the setup to a joke, and indeed, the rise of AI-generated art has come with a mix of awe-inspiring successes and absurd misfires. In the beginning, generative tools like Midjourney or DALL-E felt almost magical – type a few words and voilà, instant artwork. Marketers dreamed of limitless visuals at the push of a button (what could go wrong, right?). But as we’ll see, when AI art goes bananas, it can really go bananas, yielding results that range from brilliantly innovative to hilariously off-key.

In this article, we’ll peel back the layers on how AI-generated art is being used in the real world – from eye-popping marketing campaigns to daily social media content and even product design. We’ll highlight some big wins where AI art shined, as well as cautionary tales of when generative creations missed the mark (sometimes terribly so). You’ll also get a peek into how we at GummiBot use AI art for our own blog images and branding. Finally, for the founders and marketers eager to dive in, we provide a practical how-to guide on using Midjourney (or similar tools) effectively – covering everything from writing prompts to keeping your visuals on-brand.

Let’s jump in to explore the wild world of AI art in marketing – and find out what could possibly go wrong.

AI Art in the Wild: Marketing, Social Media, and Product Design

Generative AI art isn’t just a tech novelty; it’s quickly becoming a go-to creative tool across industries. Below are three real-world use-cases (with a quick quote for each) that show both promise and peril.

When Generative Art Gets It Right: Success Stories

AI art has delivered some impressive wins for businesses and creatives. Let’s explore a few real-world success stories where generative art truly shined.

Boosting Engagement

One standout case: the Keebler sELFie Studio wasn’t just a gimmick – it exploded in popularity, letting users transform themselves into fantasy elves.

“It’s a case study in how generative art can drive engagement through personalization.”

Interactive Brand Experiences

Brands are inviting their audiences to co-create content in bold new ways.

"This experiment shows where co-creation can take us." — Coca-Cola global creative strategist

Faster Creative Iteration

Design teams are accelerating their workflows with generative tools.

"Midjourney is a game-changer for blending creativity with efficiency." — Creative Director

Pushing Creative Boundaries

Artists and brands are using AI to explore new visual territory.

"This technology democratizes our brand iconography for the community." — Coca-Cola creative strategist

Beware the Banana Peels: AI Art Pitfalls and Cautionary Tales

It’s not all smooth sailing in the land of AI art. For every success, there’s a story of AI art gone wrong—sometimes comically, sometimes seriously. If you’re considering generative art for your business, watch out for certain pitfalls.

“Nightmare Fuel” Outputs

AI image generators have a notorious tendency to mess up human anatomy and other details. You might get six-fingered hands, extra limbs, or freakish facial features if the AI can’t quite nail the subject. One user simply asked for a person holding a coffee cup—and the AI bizarrely gave them five hands, each gripping its own mug. (Great for a meme, not so much a brand visual.)

These kinds of errors can be funny in personal projects but are jarring in professional use. Always review AI-generated images closely before publishing. The fix is usually to regenerate or do light touch-ups—but it takes a sharp eye and careful oversight.

Literal (Mis)interpretations

AI lacks common sense and often takes things far too literally. One famous example: someone prompted Midjourney for “a fork in the road,” and the result was a series of literal forks embedded in asphalt. Funny? Yes. Useful? Not so much.

Abstract concepts and idioms often confuse generative tools. If your prompt is metaphorical, be ready to revise or rephrase. Precision matters.

Copyright and IP Concerns

This is one of the most complex and evolving issues in AI art. AI tools are trained on massive datasets—many of which include copyrighted content.

“Zarya of the Dawn,” a graphic novel created using Midjourney, had its copyright revoked—because the images weren’t made by a human.

Some companies have already faced backlash. McDonald’s, for instance, posted AI-generated visuals in the style of Studio Ghibli and received online criticism for “stealing” the style. Be cautious: avoid mimicking artists or distinct aesthetics without permission.

Lack of Brand Consistency

Brand visuals thrive on consistency—a coherent color palette, style, and tone. One risk with generative art is that it can produce wildly different styles from prompt to prompt.

We’ve seen small businesses churn out AI-made social posts, only to realize their feeds look like an inconsistent patchwork.

The solution? Define a visual style and reinforce it in every prompt. Treat AI like a junior designer—it needs clear direction and brand guardrails.

Ethical and Perception Issues

Audiences are growing more aware of AI-generated content, and not all responses are positive. Particularly in creative industries, replacing human illustrators can feel disingenuous or even deceptive.

Imagine an artisanal craft brand replacing its illustrator with Midjourney—probably not a great look for authenticity.

Transparency is key. Use AI as a supplement, not a substitute. Let your brand’s voice shine through with integrity, and make sure your audience understands how and why you use these tools.

In short, AI art can go bananas in unexpected ways. The key is to enjoy the bananas without slipping on the peel: leverage the creativity and efficiency, but double-check outputs, respect creative rights, and align everything with your brand strategy.

How GummiBot Uses AI Art (A Mini Case Study)

We Needed Design Help—Fast

GummiBot is a lean SaaS company that helps businesses create AI chatbots. Like many startups, we don’t have a full-time design team. So we turned to AI art to generate quality visuals on demand—especially for our blog and website.

How We Use It on Our Blog

Scroll through our blog and you’ll spot playful, thematic images topping each article. Most of them? AI-generated with Midjourney.

That’s the kind of prompt we use. We treat the AI like our “art department intern” and curate the best result from a handful of outputs. Sometimes we touch it up. But in under an hour, we have a tailored illustration that feels totally on-brand.

Beyond the Blog: Our Website, Too

Instead of buying stock photos, we use Midjourney to generate custom graphics for the site—like our abstract robot assistant hero banner. This process helped us define our brand’s visual style.

Quality Control Still Matters

Every image gets a human review. We’ve seen weird quirks—like strange eyes or anatomy glitches—but they never make it to production.

"One generated character had subtly mismatched eyes that looked a bit derpy; great for an internal meme, not something we’d put on the site."

We also avoid ethical gray areas by never mimicking specific artists. Instead, we use public-domain style cues or invent original concepts.

The Takeaway

AI art is a force multiplier. It helps our small team punch above its weight—without breaking the budget or compromising quality.

Practical Guide: Harnessing AI Art for Your Brand

Now, let’s get practical. If you’re a founder or marketer excited to try generative art tools like Midjourney, here’s a step-by-step guide to get started and get the most out of AI art, all while keeping your sanity and brand intact:

1. Set Up Your AI Art Tool

Most AI image generators are pretty accessible. Midjourney, for example, runs through Discord – so the first step is to create a Discord account and join the Midjourney server . Once in, you can interact with the Midjourney bot by typing commands. The basic command to generate an image is /imagine followed by your prompt . (Tip: Midjourney may initially drop you into a crowded newbie channel; you can also invite the bot to a private Discord server or DM to work more quietly.) Other platforms like DALL-E or Stable Diffusion have their own interfaces, but the idea is the same: get access, and find where you input prompts. Many tools offer a free trial or limited free credits – play around to get a feel.

2. Craft Effective Prompts

Writing a good prompt is half the art in AI art. The AI isn’t a mind-reader; you need to describe what you want, clearly and creatively. Some prompt-writing tips to remember:

  1. Be specific about details. The best prompts are packed with concrete descriptors . Mention the subject, setting, and key features you envision. For instance, instead of saying “a futuristic scene,” say “a neon-lit futuristic cityscape at night with flying cars.” Include adjectives for mood or style (e.g. moody, bright, vintage). If you want a certain composition or perspective, say so.
  2. Use visual reference cues. You can invoke particular art styles, famous artists, or eras to guide the AI . For example, “in the style of a Picasso painting” or “like a 1950s advertisement illustration.” This often conveys more than a paragraph of description. (Be cautious using living artists’ names, though – that raises those ethical issues we discussed.) Using genre or medium keywords (oil painting, watercolor, anime still, etc.) also helps set a visual tone.
  3. Iterate and refine. Rarely will your first prompt nail it. Don’t be afraid to edit and try again . If the output is close but not quite there, tweak your wording or add an extra detail. For example, if the colors are off, add a color descriptor; if the image is too dark, literally include “bright” or specify time of day. Sometimes replacing one word with a synonym can change the result. Midjourney also has features like /describe (which suggests prompts from an image) and /shorten (which helps simplify prompts) that can assist . Treat it as an experiment – adjust one thing at a time and see how it affects the image.
  4. Mind the platform’s syntax. Each AI tool has optional parameters or formats. In Midjourney, you can use things like --aspect to set image dimensions (handy for getting a 16:9 image for a blog banner, for instance) . There are also advanced tricks like multi-prompts and weights where you give different parts of the prompt different emphasis  . Those are worth exploring as you get comfortable – for example, you could ensure “bright 2 :: gloomy 1” to make the image more bright than gloomy. But even without advanced syntax, a well-described prompt will go a long way.

3. Polish and Post-Process

4. Stay On-Brand

This step is crucial for marketers. Always filter your AI-generated art through the lens of your brand guidelines. Before you finalize an image, ask: does this color scheme, style, and mood match our brand personality? If your brand is known for minimalism and you get a busy, baroque-style image, it’s probably not a fit. You may need to guide the AI by including brand-related keywords in prompts (e.g. “simple flat illustration” for a minimalist brand, or “vibrant playful scene” for a fun brand). Some companies even create a style guide for AI – listing do’s and don’ts for prompts to ensure outputs look consistent. For instance, Superside’s design team always specifies things like mood, lighting, and composition in prompts to ensure every output aligns with the client’s branding . You can do the same: if your brand has primary colors or a signature visual element, incorporate that into your prompts. And consider creating a custom library of AI assets: once you get a perfect on-brand image, you might reuse elements of it (via image prompting or by maintaining that style) across multiple creatives. Finally, if an AI image is close but not perfect, don’t hesitate to have a designer touch it up to fully match your brand’s look. The goal is that viewers shouldn’t be able to tell which images were AI-made and which were made “traditionally” – everything should feel cohesive under your brand umbrella.

5. Experiment, Learn, and Evolve

Generative art is a fast-evolving field. New features, models, and tools are popping up frequently. Dedicate some time to play and learn. Maybe join communities (there are active Midjourney and AI art communities on Reddit and Discord) to see what techniques others are using. As you gain confidence, you can try more advanced approaches like training a custom model on your own dataset (for example, some brands train an AI on their product shots so it can generate on-brand product images in new scenarios). Keep an eye on the legal landscape, too – stay informed so you can adapt your practices if needed (for instance, some stock image sites are now offering AI-generated stock with clear licensing, which could be a resource). The key is to integrate AI art into your workflow as a creative aid. Use it to brainstorm ideas you never would have imagined, to save time on mundane image tasks, and to push your visual storytelling further. But also, keep the human in the loop. As one expert noted, Midjourney is powerful, but it’s not a replacement for human creativity – it’s a tool to enhance it . The best outcomes often come from a tight collaboration: your human creative direction + the AI’s capabilities.

By following these steps, you’ll be well on your way to leveraging AI art effectively for your startup or marketing projects. Generative tools can feel like a toy at first, but in practice, they’re becoming serious business tools – ones that can give you a creative edge if used wisely.

What to Take Away From All of This

AI-generated art offers an exciting new frontier for design and marketing. It lets small teams visualize wild ideas—like a dragon mascot or a candy-colored chatbot—in seconds. It empowers startups to create visuals that once required an entire creative agency.

But as we’ve seen, it also comes with caveats: strange anatomical quirks, copyright risks, and the need for thoughtful prompt crafting. These aren’t dealbreakers—they’re reminders that AI is a tool, not a magic wand.

For SaaS founders and marketers, the lesson is this: embrace the creativity, but also embrace the responsibility. Use AI to amplify your storytelling, not to cut corners. Share your wins—they’re great brand moments. And learn from the flops—ideally, the ones made by others.

As generative tools evolve (maybe they’ll fix the cursed six-finger problem once and for all), the line between traditional and AI-assisted art will blur. But your audience doesn’t care how the sausage gets made. They care about quality, authenticity, and resonance.

So the next time you're planning a campaign and wonder, “Could we do something wild with AI art here?” — the answer is yes. Just keep your brand compass close, your prompts intentional, and maybe a human designer riding shotgun.

When AI art goes bananas, you’ll be ready to make the best banana bread out of it.