Magic: The Gathering Publisher Wizards of the Coast has been accused of using artificial intelligence-generated art in recent promotional images, leading an artist to cut ties with the company.
Earlier this week, the official Magic Twitter account shared a picture Showing off some of the upcoming cards, while the cards look great, the images they contain look a little off. As many users pointed out, it looks like the image may have been at least partially generated by artificial intelligence. It’s hard to prove something like this, but a closer look at the images shows that AI-generated images tend to have some strange elements, so it’s possible.
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MTG Twitter account replied to original tweet wrote“We understand fans’ confusion because this style is different from the card art, but we stand by our previous statement. This art was created by humans, not artificial intelligence.” In response, the author, who has contributed to Magic and Comics, said: This tweet was quoted by artist Dave Rapoza, who has created art for IPs such as “Power” and “Destiny” explain “That’s it, poof, I don’t work for Wizards of the Coast anymore – you can’t say you’re against that and then blatantly use AI to promote your product, send emails, bye y’all!”
in another tweetRaposa clarified that he “I’m quitting because they took a moral stance against AI art a week ago and then did it, and if they said they were going to use AI, that’s a different story, But for them to do this because they want to stand up like heroes, that’s stupid behavior that I won’t support.”
Wizards of the Coast issued a statement as recently as December asking “artists, writers, and creatives who contribute to the Magic TCG not to use AI-generated tools to create the final Magic product,” but if the recent images did use Artificial intelligence, apparently it will soon retract its statement.
Then again, it’s entirely possible that this piece of art wasn’t created by AI at all and just looks a little funky, but like NFTs and blockchain before it, AI is the latest fad that tech companies are eager to use because investors like it. In the case of AI, it’s scary in a different way, as there are strong fears it will lead to fewer jobs for artists of any kind, which was part of the reason why writers and actors went on strike last year. We just hope this trend fades away as quickly as NFTs.
