Brian May Recreates Queen’s ‘The Game’ Cover With AI to Protest UK Data Centres

Queen guitarist Brian May has posted an AI-generated recreation of the band’s 1980 album cover ‘The Game’ on Instagram, using the image’s flaws to argue against artificial intelligence and the expansion of data centres in the United Kingdom. May said he asked Meta AI to reproduce the cover and shared the odd result with his followers along with a pointed message about the technology’s costs.

The original ‘The Game’ artwork shows all four members of Queen lined up together in matching leather jackets. The version May generated with Meta AI instead pictured five figures, none of whom closely resembled the real band members, including late frontman Freddie Mercury.

May posted the image with a sarcastic caption asking Meta AI to show him what the album cover looked like, then reacting to the result by writing, “Good job, eh?” He followed that with a broader warning: “So this is the kind of intelligence that will soon be ruling the world ??! Well, great. Maybe this is the time to realise WE ACTUALLY DON’T NEED AI !!”

Brian May’s Warning on Data Centres

May shifted from mockery to a direct plea about the environmental toll of AI infrastructure. “I believe the price we are about to pay for this ‘inevitable’ development is way too high,” he wrote.

He went further, stating, “We must not allow these hideous Data Centres to be built in the UK. They will destroy our beautiful country, like they are already destroying beautiful America.” May then addressed Andy Burnham directly in his post, referring to him as Prime Minister, adding, “Dear Andy, you must stop it now. Before it’s too late.”

Willie Nelson Has Also Spoken Out Against Data Centres

May is not the only musician raising alarms about data centre expansion. Willie Nelson has voiced similar concerns in the United States, worried that such facilities could encroach on Abbott, Texas, the town where he grew up.

Nelson said, “The strength of rural America has never come from big industrial footprints. It comes from generations of people, open spaces, local business and a connection to the land.” He continued, “All of America deserves thoughtful stewardship that doesn’t steal farmland (where our essential shared food is grown) and small family farmers’ livelihoods, and not data centres that destroy the environment around them.”

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• Brian May recreates Queen album cover with AI to make stand against AI: Will destroy our beautiful country | Far Out Magazine