NEOM McLaren Formula E team unveil world’s first AI-designed livery

The NEOM McLaren Formula E Team unveiled a world-first with its motorsport livery designed using generative artificial intelligence (AI). The new look was released to mark McLaren Racing’s 60th anniversary year at this weekend’s London E-Prix.

Developed in collaboration between NEOM and McLaren Racing, the livery featured artwork built on visions of the future provided by NEOM McLaren drivers René Rast and Jake Hughes, as well as four members from NEOM’s Graduate Development Programme.

Welcome to the future. ⚡️?

? Our AI-designed livery is inspired by future visions of Jake, René, and four NEOM graduates.

The design process used text-to-image AI tools to translate their hopes for the future onto our cars. ?#NEOMxMcLaren

— NEOM McLaren FE (@McLarenFE) July 26, 2023

Nadhmi Al-Nasr, CEO of NEOM, said, “The NEOM McLaren Formula E Team partnership supports various NEOM commitments, from driving sustainable solutions and nurturing Saudi talent through development opportunities, to delivering new technology to the world. We have leveraged creative and innovative technology to create the AI-generated livery to celebrate a milestone in McLaren’s history through visions of the future.”

Developing AI-designed livery

Each contributor provided their personal vision, which were combined in an end-to-end AI process to produce the livery, as per the statement released by NEOM.

The visions were processed by a text AI to create a series of prompts followed by prompts to create individual artwork for each vision using text-to-image AI. Finally, the six visuals were combined into one artwork using image-to-image AI, before being enhanced to create the high-resolution graphics that McLaren Racing designers mapped onto the car.

To the grid → on the grid. ⚡️??#LondonEPrix pic.twitter.com/OCvsQ2gEBa

— NEOM McLaren FE (@McLarenFE) July 30, 2023

Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, said, “We are delighted to work with NEOM on the creation of the first AI-designed livery in motorsport. When the car takes its place on the grid in London this weekend, it will mark a key moment in celebration of McLaren Racing’s 60th anniversary. McLaren has a long history of innovation in motorsport and beyond, so as we celebrate our past, it’s just as important to look to the future and continue to break new ground.”

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