The official social media account of the Olympic Games has been accused of violating its own brand guidelines following a post about the "intensity" of this year's Winter Olympics.
On Friday evening, the Winter Olympics officially got underway with the Opening Ceremony in Milan, as the representatives of 91 of the 92 nations were paraded around the San Siro stadium.
One of the big talking points from the ceremony was an AI-generated sequence starring “White Lotus” actress Sabrina Impacciatore which looked back at the past 100 years of the Olympic Games.
Impacciatore could be seen skiing and skating through different host cities from the past century, but the use of artificial intelligence was widely criticised.
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The use of AI is becoming more and more common, and a day later, the official Olympics account appeared to use AI-generated images in a 30-second video about events such as Alpine Skiing, Cross-Country Skiing and Speed Skating.
In fact, X user and graphic designer Fredrik pointed out that an image used in the video violates the Olympics' own brand guidelines as they used a modified picture of their trademark logo on a cartoon athlete taking part in the Luge.
He wrote: "Ai slop. The official account of The™ Olympic™ Games™ just published an image which breaks its own brand guide, using an off-brand logo - the rings aren't overlapping at the officially correct places."
Fredrik added: "Does this mean that the IOC™ isn't *that* fuzzy about misusing their logo? Why on earth do they use artificially generated images instead of utilizing any talented Italian artists?"
As mentioned in the 129-page Olympic Brand Guidelines handbook, the Olympic rings should never be altered in any manner, including modifying the official colours, or the order of the colours.
The guidance also states: "Always use supplied artwork (never recreate the rings).”
Here's how fans on social media have reacted to the Olympics' apparent use of AI for the Winter Games.
One said: "You’re all talking about AI but I’m stuck on the flagrant disregard for the Olympic brand guidelines. They beveled AND recreated the rings. You can’t do any of that!"
A second wrote: "A part of the opening ceremony also had a lengthy ai generated segment about the previous cities that have hosted the Winter Olympics, its just so lazy and low effort."
A third added: "This is AI slop, I expected more from the Olympics."
SPORTbible reached out to the IOC for comment. An IOC spokesperson responded, saying: "These posters were created for one of the social media activations for Milano Cortina 2026 by a multidisciplinary team of around 12 people who worked on them over four months, including a creative director, art director, copywriter, designer, illustrator, and a visual artist.
"It took many hours of hands-on work, from the first concepts through to final production.
"A combination of tools and techniques were used. AI tools were used at different stages in the process, both during early sketching and illustration. Each visual was then developed, refined, and transformed through extensive manual work by professional creatives, shaped by artistic judgement, feedback, and careful craft."
The spokesperson added: "The posters follow the IOC brand and digital guidelines, which are constantly and rapidly evolving to adapt to the fast pace of the social media world.”
Jack Kenmare