The use of AI art across various mediums continues to accelerate, and now it’s made its way into two new controversies involving Wizards of the Coast’s Magic: The Gathering and Respawn’s Apex Legends.
Both have been accused of using AI art, or at least AI “human touched” art for various promotions. The larger case is probably what’s going on with Wizards of the Coast, as after they were accused of using AI art in a promotional piece, they doubled down, telling players they were “confused” by it being different than Magic card art, and that it was created by humans, not AI.
This is just…not true. Hundreds of people pointed out inconsistencies with the artwork which had clear signs of AI generation, leaving a few options on the table that WotC was either not telling the truth about the art, or whoever the artist was hadn’t told them the truth. Or, there’s a third option that combines AI art and human touch-ups that they’re trying to pass off on a technicality, which may be the most likely.
Not right
WotC
This accelerated quickly, as famed artist Dave Rapoza announced he would no longer work with Wizards of the Coast due to the situation, where it was amplified not just by the doubling down, but because Wizards had also just put out a strong anti-AI statement saying they would refrain from using AI generative tools to create final Magic projects. “Final” Magic projects.
Fans believe there are at least two other images from this specific promotional campaign using AI art, and what may be happening here is that a base image is generated with AI, and then a human artist goes through it touching it up. But they can’t fix everything, so many of the trademarks of AI art slip through the cracks. But for a game that prides itself on beautiful, memorable card art, it’s an especially pronounced problem, as you can see by Rapoza quitting on the spot. They have not posted any addendums to their last statement on January 4.
The other controversy with Apex Legends seems a little more straightforward, but fans are not happy about it all the same. Over there, fans also spotted trademarks of AI art in a promotion for the game, but this time what seems to have happened is that original animation was run through some sort of AI filter, stylizing it but leaving those AI artifacts around to be spotted.
Both of these situations may share a similar disconnect, that perhaps the marketing arm of these companies are doing these AI-based changes while the actual art and animation departments don’t have anything to do with it. But with no apologies so far, it’s not clear how much the companies care about responding.
We are seeing the use of AI art starting to skyrocket across multiple industries like this, as I’m sure the idea here is that if an image can be generated that is at least “good enough,” and the problems being pointed out are zooming in on specific details 98% of people wouldn’t notice, they don’t about the small number of people they’re offending if they’re saving time and money on artists.
But…artists make the original art for these card games and video games, and if you’re losing someone like Dave Rapoza for some one-off ad, that is not a trade you want to make. We’ll see if these company’s have any other response, or if WotC specifically revisits their proud declaration that this wasn’t AI art, when it clearly is.
Update: Wizards of the Coast has backtracked, saying that the image did in fact have AI elements, which may have been due to Adobe Photoshop’s new use of AI, but they are investigating how they work with artists and outside partners for content like this
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
