Wizards of the Coast admitted to accidentally using AI art for its Magic: The Gathering marketing campaigns despite the company's previous commitment to prohibit the use of AI artwork.
Previously, the company dismissed the use of AI art and claimed that the images were drawn by hand.
Wizard of the Coast's AI Art Campaign Material for Magic: The Gathering
The company posted a campaign material to promote one of its games, Magic: The Gathering. However, the gaming community was quick to spot that several elements in the artwork looked off, one of the tell-tale signs of an AI-made image.
I guess the whole ad campaign was made with A/I generated imagery, then retouched to give it a semblance of man-made craft. pic.twitter.com/St5bXhcXfu
— MarcoMaps Bernardini (@MarcoMA4PS) January 6, 2024
At first, the studio acknowledged the confusion but denied the accusations, stating that the art was "created by humans." The post was then deleted on X and has been followed by an admittance to the allegations of using AI.
The company explained that the art used in the artwork came from a vendor and admitted the company's lapses in double-checking if it was authentic human-made or AI.
"We already made clear that we require artists, writers, and creatives contributing to the Magic TCG to refrain from using AI generative tools to create final Magic products," the company wrote.
Wizards of the Coast Piles up on Controversies
This is not the first AI art controversy that Wizards of the Coast committed. Last year, the company published an AI art for Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants. The artwork was then removed and replaced with a hand-drawn work after facing criticism.
On the other hand, Hasbro laid off thousands of its staff, including people from Wizards of the Coast. Last December, the company made a statement against the use of AI tools for creative outputs.
With all the controversies surrounding the company, many fans have voiced their dismay at the frequent occurrence of the same issue.
