The narrative that artificial intelligence is the Grim Reaper for the creative industries has become so common that you’d think every writer, artist, musician, and filmmaker is moments away from losing their livelihood. Headlines scream about AI-generated content, creative robots, and soulless machines taking over art, leaving human creators out in the cold. But does the hype match the reality? Spoiler: it doesn’t.

Damien Hirst, the enfant terrible of the art world, the man who turned dead animals into million-dollar spectacles and placed a skull encrusted with diamonds at the pinnacle of contemporary art. Critics call him a genius; others see him as the ultimate conman. But one thing’s for sure: Hirst has built an empire of bollocks as big and brash as his installations.

Banksy, the elusive artist-slash-provocateur whose street art inspires breathless headlines, Instagram pilgrimages, and auction house-feeding frenzies. The name alone conjures images of anti-establishment stencils, secretive installations, and shredded canvases that make the art world weak at the knees. But peel back the layers of mystique, and you’ll find an empire built as much on hype and clever PR as artistic merit.

Birmingham: the sprawling metropolis of Spaghetti Junction fame, Brutalist architecture, and canals that definitely outnumber Venice. Once, there was a website called Birmingham It’s Not Shit, a valiant effort to defend the UK’s second city from its critics. With lists of quirky reasons why Birmingham wasn’t as bad as people thought, it tried to elevate the city’s reputation above the perpetual slagging it receives from Londoners, northerners, and basically everyone else.