Moleskine, the notebook company that built its brand on legendary creators like Hemingway and Picasso, launched a Lord of the Rings collection featuring AI-generated artwork. Some promotional images carried a small disclaimer reading "Imagined by Moleskine, generated by AI" while others, including the Instagram announcement, made no mention of AI at all. The company hasn't credited any human artist for the designs, a sharp departure from their 2024 collection that featured collaborations with Zeng Fanzhi, Ahn Sang Soo, and Momoko Sakura. Cheryl-Jean Leo, who documented the controversy on her blog, notes that the flat, minimalist art style could mask AI generation, making it genuinely hard to tell the difference.
The promotional materials are where things get embarrassing. An Instagram post featured a map in Tolkien's iconic style with nonsensical location names like "Der Rarmorth" and "Narmimtz." Someone approved these ads without knowing the first thing about Middle-earth geography. The disclosure has been inconsistent throughout. Some images got the AI disclaimer, others didn't. Moleskine has since removed AI disclaimers entirely after social media criticism while keeping the images, according to Leo.
The whole thing sits uncomfortably with Moleskine's own marketing. Their product descriptions talk about how "each of us has creative talents that help us persevere" and "the way forward is at the tip of your pen." That's quite a message from a company that couldn't be bothered to hire an actual artist or fact-check a map. The company's Code of Ethics doesn't mention AI anywhere, and there are no regulations requiring disclosure.
Middle-earth Enterprises, owned by Embracer Group, controls the merchandising rights and has been strict about protecting Tolkien's legacy. Whether their licensing agreement with Moleskine addresses AI artwork remains unclear. Legacy contracts drafted before modern generative tools probably don't contain language about this, leaving a gap companies can exploit while technically staying within broad artwork provisions.