LEGO Group rejected Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s request for a bulk order of bricks in October 2018. Ai said his request was declined as his exhibition was thought to be too political. However, Kirk Kristiansen said an employee had misinterpreted company policy on political neutrality and said it was an "internal mistake." LEGO later said customers need to be aware that they don't endorse works shown in public.

In 2019, despite the previous year's difficulties, Ai successfully unveiled a series of LEGO portraits of missing Mexican students at an art gallery in Mexico City. The works featured around one million bricks and depicted the faces of 43 college pupils who had been kidnapped and were never found.

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