A keen-eyed Powell’s Books customer who noticed a “wonky” graphic on one of the store’s T-shirts for sale — then posted the image to the social media platform Reddit last week — ignited an uproar among the Portland bookseller’s devoted fan base over the company’s suspected reliance on artificial intelligence.

The post sparked hundreds of social media comments and prompted scorn from the bookseller’s employees union, which said the company has been “unmoved” by employee concerns about its use of AI in merchandise.

In a statement Saturday, Powell’s acknowledged the public relations mess and said it had hired a local artist who was assisted by AI software to create “the designs on our merch.”

The T-shirt that sparked the inferno of criticism features what at first glance appears to be

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