'AI artist' tries to bait William Shatner into praising his 'painting.' He gets absolutely roasted instead.

In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), even its critics are dabbling in digital creation—but not always with great success. One such attempt by one emerging artist recently caught the attention of William Shatner (@WilliamShatner), the beloved Canadian actor and space tourist, who wasted no time delivering a sharp-witted critique. American content creator "808 Aloha" (@forevertrees2 on X) proudly shared an AI-generated painting of what appeared to be New York City’s skyline. But their excitement was short-lived when Shatner stepped in with a hilariously brutal takedown.

It all began when Aloha tried to poke fun at Shatner, suggesting that the 93-year-old veteran actor had lately been relying on AI-generated content for his social media updates. The content creator randomly tagged the “Star Trek” actor to another algorithm-produced image of NYC’s skyline, claiming it to be their own. However, the attempt to trigger Shatner didn’t go as they expected, inviting a variety of humorous reactions from the online community. Instead of ignoring the casual remarks, the Canadian celebrity chose to give it back in a similar tone and tenor—pun intended. “What do you think of my AI-generated artwork @WilliamShatner?” read the post.

While tagging Shatner, the content creator also attached an edited picture of NYC’s skyline. It was quite clear from the painting’s overall appearance that it was created with the assistance of AI. Not only was its color scheme a bit off, but the overall design had multiple strange yet similar patterns in the form of slides or blocks used to approximate the texture of a real image. Like many others, Shatner spotted the bizarre patterns and delivered a savage response. “So, you told an AI program to draw… and you want to take credit for it?” the Canadian actor asked. He did not stop there; he was eager to set the record straight. “Who are you; Pythagoras?” Shatner asked, jokingly comparing the artist to the ancient Greek mathematician and polymath known for his mathematical theorem.

Shatner’s playful jab tapped into a larger online debate about AI-generated art—and it resonated. His tweet quickly racked up 2.5 million views, sparking a flood of reactions. @catlett remarked, “People bragging about their AI artwork is kind of like the kid using an old Spirograph and thinking they have made art.” @Bensam123TV emphasized, "It's weird that we've reached a point where the art is no longer in the amount of time that you spend toiling away at something, but rather the limits of your imagination.”

Meanwhile, @Floreum noted, "LMAO! Great response, I also love all the AI babies trying to prove to you otherwise that they're doing 'work.'" @AnthropicDualiT added, "It's not your AI or your artwork... It is a visualization of a program's output based on input. I don't take a sh** and call it artwork, although maybe I should... I'm sure some group of people would line up to applaud me like I'm some kind of an artistic hero."