By Michael Scott
In a recent update, the Wizards of the Coast has confirmed that they prohibit artists from utilizing generative AI in creating artwork and content for its popular role-playing game, Magic: The Gathering.
The move to institute a brand-wide prohibition arose from the revelation of advertisements aired by the company featuring AI-generated images. The gamers cried foul of the move, alleging that the firm relied on AI-generated images for the Tomb Raider Secret Lair card game, not human artists.
Policy Amended to Ban Brand-wide Use of Generative AI
The policy amendment appears triggered by negative comments by social media fans, illustrating several aspects in which Tomb Raider images were AI-generated. A gaming news platform, Wargamer, reports that Wizards of the Coast was edging human artists in favor of AI-generated input.
Wizards of the Coast revealed in a Tuesday, December 19 statement that Magic: The Gathering has featured innovation, ingenuity, and hard work tapped from talented human artists in sculpting the beautiful and creative game for three decades. The statement indicated that the internal guidelines would remain unchanged amid encroachment by the artificial intelligence tools.
The company reiterated the obligations of writers, creatives, and artists with contributive input to the MagicTCG to refrain from utilizing AI generative tools when creating the final magic products.
Wizards of the Coast reflected on the editor job posting advertised at the onset of this year. It clarified that the role involved editing and refining the human-created art, thereby unrelated to the generative AI.
Wizards of the Coast hailed the input of its workforce, profiling them as a team of talented artists and creatives who, through their contribution, transform Magic into an invaluable playing experience.
Dungeons and Dragons Excluded from Generative AI Usage
The statement drew criticism from the community, with a concerned user posting on X (formerly Twitter) that Wizards of the Coast was exercising public relations. The wargamer Norn-Queen Kya acknowledged the company’s efforts to keep up appearances. Nonetheless, the users indicated they would likely catch the company utilizing AI-generated content.
Although Wizards of the Coast was noncommittal on the primary reason for the tweet and policy adjustment, it portrays the trend where AI became an unresolved thorn, hurting the iconic game developer.
A revisit of the firm’s activities reveals an August incident where the Dungeons and Dragons publisher admitted artist Ilya Shkipin leveraged generative AI in creating images for a soon-to-launch title, “Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants!”
The notification ruled out Shkipn from ever utilizing AI in executing Wizards work. The D&D Beyond account tweeted that the publisher would revise the artist guidelines. The clarity would obligate the artists to refrain from ever deploying AI art generation in the creation process.
Hasbro, the parent firm of Wizards of the Coast, admitted partially becoming immersive with generative AI. The firm revealed plans to utilize generative AI for future board games, except Dungeons and Dragons.
The AI-human artists conflict is heating up this year with Stable Diffusion behind Stability AI eradicating the visual style linked to Greg Rutkowski, the artist in Magic: the Gathering. The elimination of the dataset arose from artists’ complaints about using their work in training AI without permission.
Game Developers Accused of Tapping Generative AI
Wizards of the Coast join other game developers facing the wrath of gamers, alleging they tap AI and not human creators. Riot Games in November downplayed the allegation of utilizing generative AI to create voice-overs for the League of Legends expansion.
Gamers indicated that the voice-over in Wild Rift sounded AI-generated. Riot Games responded by ruling out AI, instead indicating poor voice direction, which led to the kerfuffle.
Riot Games indicated that the release of the Sivir tutorial video showcased to the players featured an error from the voice actor, who failed to give proper direction. The mistake led to mispronouncing Sivir’s name, which the firm indicated would not slip through the cracks again.