WotC Swept Up In AI Art Controversy, Again, Over MTG Promo Art
AI art continues to rear its hydra-like heads. WotC is swept up in controversy yet again, this time over AI art in promo graphics.
Wizards of the Coast was swept up in AI art controversy once again, though this time, it seems that AI art was used, despite an initial statement from WotC that it wasn’t. It all began late last week, when the official Magic: the Gathering Twitter account posted a promo graphic showing off some of the Ravnica lands with retro frames.
The background appeared to be created using generative AI tools, owing to tell-tale signs, which we’ll get into shortly. As the community rightly called it out, Wizards of the Coast initially denied it, saying the art was “created by humans” though, as it would come to state on Sunday, after sorting through the issue, generative AI was used. And WotC admitted their mistake in an official statement on January 7th, that comes down, in their words, “on the side of human-made art and artists.”
WotC Embroiled In AI Art Controversy, Clarifies Being ‘On The Side Of Human Made Art And Artists’
Here’s the initial tweet, made from WotC’s official MTG account. It has since been deleted, for obvious reasons. But on January 4th, promoting the Ravnica lands, this image was used. And almost immediately, fans called it out for being created with generative AI. A close-up examination of the pieces involved revealed many details consistent with generative AI work:
"created by humans" Right… pic.twitter.com/gf9TUXWSPA
— TaylorGreen (@GreenSkyDragon) January 5, 2024
As you can see in the Tweet above, there are plenty of details that don’t add up. The number of cables plugging in to the weird port looking thing shifts. The pipe connection seems to be skewed for no reason and doesn’t line up. And the text on the gauge just gives up in the latter half.
It wasn’t just the one post, either. Multiple Ravnica Remastered ads featured generative AI art:
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
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This was especially upsetting to the community after WotC’s statement banning the use of AI tools in creating art. After WotC’s insistence that the work was human-created, artist Dave Rapoza, who has created artwork for cards like Foray of Orcs and Nissa of the Shadowed Boughs, among many, many more, publicly split with the company:
And just like that, poof, I’m done working for wizards of the coast – you can’t say you stand against this then blatantly use AI to promote your products, emails sent, good bye you all! https://t.co/RAfJi5NhxR
Subscribe to our newsletter!Get Tabletop, RPG & Pop Culture news delivered directly to your inbox.By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.— Dave Rapoza (@DaveRapoza) January 6, 2024
The very next day, WotC admitted that generative AI tools had been used, starting with the immortal phrase: “well, we made a mistake…”
Well, we made a mistake earlier when we said that a marketing image we posted was not created using AI. Read on for more. (1/5)
— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) January 7, 2024
In their statement on Twitter, WotC admitted their mistake, and clarified the situation:
“As you, our diligent community pointed out, it looks like some AI components that are now popping up in industry standard tools like Photoshop crept into our marketing creative, even if a human did the work to create the overall image.
While the art came from a vendor, it’s on us to make sure that we are living up to our promise to support the amazing human ingenuity that makes Magic great. 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.
Now we’re evaluating how we work with vendors on creative beyond our products – like these marketing images – to make sure that we are living up to those values.”
And at the same time, posted a separate statement on the official Magic: the Gathering page on WotC’s website, in a post titled An Update on Generative AI Tools and Magic. Here WotC said it needed to get better at understanding “whether and how AI is used in the creative process”, again focusing on how AI tools are becoming more common:
“We can’t promise to be perfect in such a fast-evolving space, especially with generative AI becoming standard in tools such as Photoshop, but our aim is to always come down on the side of human made art and artists.”
In the meantime, the community is keeping a sharp eye on Wizards of the Coast and elsewhere. And they’ve made it clear, AI generated art is lacking compared to the work of actual humans.
