Nothing is using AI-generated people to show off its new earbuds – everyone hates it [Gallery]

Nothing's CMF brand faced online backlash after using AI-generated people in marketing images for its new CMF Clip Pro open-ear earbuds, with one image deleted due to poor quality. The company, led by Carl Pei, has not publicly responded to requests for comment, and the backlash highlights growing public animosity toward AI-generated media.

Yesterday Nothing’s CMF brand launched a new pair of pretty cool open-ear earbuds https://9to5google.com/2026/08/04/nothing-cmf-clip-pro-earbuds-launch/ , but a big part of the online discussion is around the AI-generated images the company keeps posting. I think it’s pretty safe to say that AI has struck a nerve in the public discussion. While there are very valuable ways to use these tools, “AI slop” has come to dominate much of the web, and people are getting sick of it – if I see one more eye-searing ChatGPT poster I might lose it. Nothing’s CMF brand is feeling the weight of the online discussion around AI-generated images, with loud backlash to the company’s use of AI in CMF Clip Pro marketing images. With some images already having been deleted https://www.notebookcheck.net/CMF-showcases-Clip-Pro-s-clip-on-design-in-its-own-AI-generated-ad-then-vanished.1358280.0.html , the CMF by Nothing account has posted https://x.com/cmfbynothing/status/2084635465219793264/photo/1 multiple https://x.com/cmfbynothing/status/2084182177181532614/photo/1 marketing materials that are meant to show off the Clip Pro, but do so without the use of actual people. Disclaimers on the images state that “any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental.” Contains AI-generated imagery. Any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental. While the first two images below are relatively convincing, the last one – the one that Nothing deleted – looks like a poor editing job at best. The same goes for an image shared with media for the CMF Clip Pro launch – it’s so very obvious that no one was wearing the earbuds, and the disclaimer heavily implies that these aren’t real people in the first place. Another video posted today https://x.com/cmfbynothing/status/2084987787619578187 is, again, somewhat convincing at a glance, but there are some obvious points at which the use of AI becomes clear – the shot of the mountain is particularly egregious. There’s another scene in a subway where text in the back doesn’t actually look like text, not to mention the obvious common sense problem of trying to use open-ear earbuds in a subway . Guess no one thought that was a problem. Realistically, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Nothing is reportedly all-in on AI as the future of its company https://9to5google.com/2026/07/31/nothing-smartwatch-audio-devices-leak-with-ai-focus/ , but as vocal online backlash and animosity to AI-generated media continues to grow, it’s certainly something the Carl Pei-led company will need to find the right balance on. We’ve reached out to Nothing regarding its use of AI in these marketing images, which the company has not yet publicly responded to, but no comment was immediately available. We’ll update this article with more information if we hear back. More on Nothing: Nothing reportedly prioritizing AI devices like its leaked smartwatch over smartphones https://9to5google.com/2026/07/31/nothing-smartwatch-audio-devices-leak-with-ai-focus/ Nothing rumored to launch its own smartwatch for ‘under $300’ – I hope it has Wear OS https://9to5google.com/2026/07/28/nothing-smartwatch-rumors/ Hands-on: Nothing Phone 4b is a better budget phone at an impossible price Video https://9to5google.com/2026/07/07/nothing-phone-4b-hands-on-launch-price-specs/ Follow Ben: Twitter/X https://twitter.com/NexusBen , Threads https://www.threads.net/@nexusben , Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/nexusben.com , and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nexusben FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. https://9to5mac.com/about/ affiliate our homepage http://9to5google.com/ for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Google on exclusive stories https://9to5google.com/feature/exclusive/ , reviews https://9to5google.com/guides/reviews/ , how-tos https://9to5google.com/guides/how-to/ , and subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/9to5google