Brian May asked Meta AI to show him what the cover of Queen's album The Game looks like, and posted what it produced. The result was unrecognisable, and the Queen guitarist used it to make an argument rather than a joke.
"I asked Meta AI to show me what the cover of The Game album looked like," he wrote alongside the image, adding that this was what it gave him. "So this is the kind of intelligence that will soon be ruling the world??!" he asked, before suggesting it might be time to realise that AI is not actually needed.
His tone then changed. He said he believes the price about to be paid for this so-called inevitable development is far too high, and moved from the picture to the infrastructure behind it. "We must not allow these hideous Data Centres to be built in the UK," he wrote. "They will destroy our beautiful country, like they are already destroying beautiful America."
He closed by addressing Andy Burnham directly, telling him to stop it now, before it is too late, and signed the post Bri.
May has form for using his platform this way. Earlier in 2026 he said Queen would not tour the United States because he considers it a dangerous place. Before that he ruled out headlining Glastonbury Festival over the politics of the people who run it, referring to founder Michael Eavis' support for badger culling, and said he would not do it unless that changed.
The band's own plans have stayed unsettled. May revealed last year that Queen had worked on new material with Adam Lambert and had considered taking the live show to the Sphere in Las Vegas. His wife, Anita Dobson, suggested in December that large-scale touring was unlikely, and that the band would do a few loose things rather than big tours.
Metal Injection covered the same post from a different angle, treating it as a lesson for anyone who needs to see the problem rather than hear about it. Luminate has separately found that most people want AI use disclosed. More is on our rock hub.
The facts
- May asked Meta AI to recreate the cover of Queen's 1980 album The Game
- He posted the result on Instagram in August 2026
- He said the price of the development is too high
- He opposed the building of data centres in the UK
- He addressed the post to Andy Burnham and signed it Bri
- He said earlier in 2026 that Queen would not tour the United States
- He has ruled out headlining Glastonbury over its founder's support for badger culling
- Queen worked on new material with Adam Lambert last year
How this checks out
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