Game Developer Accused of Firing Artists and Replacing Them with AI

It's a well-known fact that being a graphic artist is hard these days. Other than being underpaid and underappreciated, companies are now finding cheaper ways to generate art content. In the case of this game studio, it is accused of replacing its artists with AI.

Human Artists vs AI Image Generator

The Taiwanese game developer accused of firing artists, Rayark, is behind the collection of mobile rhythm games called Cytus. Players of the game started speculating about the possibility as they noticed abnormalities in the game's latest art.

For instance, one of the characters had six fingers, which is a mistake that human artists rarely make. In some cases, the clothes and hair of the characters would be clipped in unusual places, as pointed out by Kotaku, which tends to be a flaw in AI-generated images.

A Twitter user who goes by @CeRA_WHiTE_1_10 stated that the game studio fired all their artists and replaced them with AI, also claiming that the art they are now putting out is of poor quality. She also shared a photo of a tweet where a former Rayark employee was "angry."

The former employee used to serve as the art director for the game developers, working on the game Cytus 2. The artists expressed that they felt "a little bit disgusting" as they saw all the quality control and efforts ruined by AI and that they were glad to have left the company.

Rayark's Responses

The game studio Rayark denied that they used image-generating machines to create art for the game, as well as firing employees. Although, the company also said that they have been "conducting extensive research" into AI and recruited members with AI expertise.

Rayark further explained through a letter on Twitter that creativity and expression through art have always been of utmost importance to the company, all while saying that it is adopting an "open-minded approach to learning" when it comes to utilizing AI tools.

The studio says that they have not laid off any artists to establish more efficient processes and achieve technological breakthroughs. Still, recruiting AI expertise will likely lead to the use of AI art, which then leaves graphic artists in the dust.

AI Taking Over Art Professions

Through generative AI, anyone can create amazingly realistic or surrealistic photos using text prompts, which has been a concern for artists all over the world. However, that's not the only issue that lies within AI art.

There have been reports of AI models being trained using copyrighted materials. If that's true, then artists are not only out of a job but being stolen from as well. Sadly, there is no concrete evidence in some cases, and AI companies have denied it time and time again.

Just this May, major book publisher Bloomsbury used AI art from Adobe Stock for the cover of a novel by Sarah J Maas. As mentioned in The Verge, Bloomsbury is also the publisher for the entire" Harry Potter" book franchise, which granted its popularity in the industry.