This article is a transcript of our policy posted on Instagram on 14 September 2026.

AI flyers are based on theft from artists.

AI visual generation tools are trained using pictures made by human artists, without consent or pay.

AI picture generation uses a lot of energy and water.

All generative AI consumes energy and water. Image and video generation sit near the top of the list.

AI flyers have no personality.

They may look impressive to their “maker”, but they’re not impressing people who care about art and creativity.

Too Hot to Be Cool uses AI for translations.

We use AI for EN/JP translation and text polishing. THTBC’s core team is just 2 people, running this on their free time. AI text work has a far smaller environmental footprint than visuals, and saves us time we can put where a human is actually needed.

AI music: no thanks.

We will not book bands using AI in their music. Only handcrafted rock on our stage. We also stopped using Spotify for our music discovery and sharing needs, as this platform is one of the most supportive of AI-generated music.

We know not everyone knows.

Sometimes we see a band we like use an AI flyer. It saddens us, but we assume they just didn’t know the cost for people and the planet. Raising awareness on these issues, within our local scene, has been part of THTBC since day one.

The tools we use.

All AI companies have a dark side. Some are darker than others. We moved from ChatGPT to Claude when it was revealed that OpenAI was Donald Trump’s biggest donor. We may move again, to a European platform, once the translation tools we need the most are good enough there.

Supporting other events

We’re always happy to support other community-driven music events in Tokyo and beyond, by sharing, reposting, shouting out. But we just won’t do that for events using AI flyers, sorry.

Too Hot to Be Cool is made by humans, for humans.

Thanks for reading up to this point!