{"id":253850,"date":"2026-05-24T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/24\/ai-washing-firms-are-scrambling-to-rebrand-themselves-as-tech-focused-ai-artificial-intelligence\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T04:00:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T08:00:27","slug":"ai-washing-firms-are-scrambling-to-rebrand-themselves-as-tech-focused-ai-artificial-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/24\/ai-washing-firms-are-scrambling-to-rebrand-themselves-as-tech-focused-ai-artificial-intelligence\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018AI washing\u2019: firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused | AI (artificial intelligence)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018AI washing\u2019: firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused | AI (artificial intelligence)<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2026\/may\/24\/ai-washing-pr-firms-scrambling-rebrand<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-24 02:00:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n

UK companies are performing \u201cyoga-level\u201d stretches to describe themselves as AI specialists in an attempt to capitalise on the buzz around the technology, public relations firms have said.<\/p>\n

Weary communications executives tasked with securing media coverage for brands have complained that bosses in low-tech industries or running businesses that use automation but not generative AI, are increasingly demanding they are pitched to journalists as artificial intelligence companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can almost hear the eyes roll when you mention the word AI to a reporter,\u201d said a publicist in south London who represents a portfolio of tech and design firms. \u201cI\u2019ve watched a steady stream of companies try to bolt the label AI on to whatever they do, no matter how tenuous the link.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imran Ariff, a media strategist for Fight or Flight, a London-based communications agency, said: \u201cIt can be easy for brands to \u2018drink their own Kool-Aid\u2019 when they\u2019re so proud of what they\u2019re doing and consequently, go too far in their efforts to promote their AI capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month, the US shoe company AllBirds \u201cpivoted\u201d to to acquiring AI graphics processing units, while genetics companies have hyped AI-powered blood tests. In inboxes this month, there have been press releases about AI-powered basketball hoops, and AI-powered lasers that \u2013 somehow \u2013 protect women from predators on crowded underground platforms.<\/p>\n

Some companies have been accused of \u201cAI washing\u201d, trying to rebrand familiar, often years-old, technologies as \u201cAI\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/span>The shoe company AllBirds was said to have \u2018pivoted\u2019 to acquiring AI graphics processing units last month.<\/span> Photograph: Bloomberg\/Getty<\/p>\n

Technology PRs \u2013 whose job it is to send tens, or hundreds, of pitches to journalists each week, the vast majority of which get ignored \u2013 have complained about being forced to send out AI-related press releases under duress despite their industries\u2019 image for unscrupulously hyping up products.<\/p>\n

\u201cA…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018AI washing\u2019: firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused | AI (artificial intelligence) https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2026\/may\/24\/ai-washing-pr-firms-scrambling-rebrand…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":253851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/6c4dd4b2880760003ffbd14e8d6884b367237ad3\/1844_305_2349_1879\/master\/2349.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=8ae6c8a540881dcdf228bf87820a2733","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-253850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-generative-ai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253852,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253850\/revisions\/253852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}