An AI-powered Coca-Cola ad campaign mistakenly invented a book by a famous author

A woman walks past a Coca-Cola advert on the street. (Credit: Photo credit should read JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images)

• A new ad campaign from Coca-Cola appears to mistakenly attribute a non-existent J.G. Ballard work to the author. The section of text used in the ad is actually from a book of various interviews the author gave, published years after his death. This apparent error follows previous backlash over Coca-Cola's AI-generated Christmas ads.

Coca-Cola's recent AI-powered advert appears to have got its facts mixed up. In an April campaign called “Classic," the company aimed to highlight examples where its brand name appears in classic literature. The ad uses Stephen King's The Shining and V. S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas as examples. However, it also includes a book called Extreme Metaphors by J. G. Ballard, which does not exist.