Three Belgian companies have launched an AI-driven online shop as an experiment and marketing stunt, with all profits going to Awel, a helpline for children and young people.
In the shop, called “Is This Real?”, artificial intelligence handles every task—from product design to marketing and sales. Pieter De Buysser, one of the initiators, described it as “a way to explore the technological and strategic limits of AI automation” while also sparking discussion on the subject.
The shop primarily sells T-shirts, each inspired by a current theme and entirely created by AI. A new design is released daily, accompanied by automated social media campaigns and newsletters. Each design is available for just 24 hours.
One T-shirt featured an image of a man with an Iranian banknote, while another depicted cockroach wings. The latter was inspired by a study showing some cockroaches practice monogamy and express loyalty by biting each other’s wings.
“There’s not a single human decision behind this process,” said De Buysser. “But if AI can run an entire business, what does that mean for the role of humans in companies? How do leaders decide what to automate or not?”
The developers believe human connection will only grow in value in a world increasingly dominated by AI-generated content. They also emphasised that the shop’s creation required numerous human decisions, concluding, “Humans are not entirely replaceable.”
