Wizards of the Coasthas issued a statement onits latest AI art controversy, saying that it will “always” side with human artists. This comes after it concedes that its latest marketing images “may have” included “elements of generative AI”, a claim it had previously denied.
Now, Wizards of the Coast admits that it’s possible the images were AI-generated, but adds that they were made by one of its vendors.
“Thanks to our diligent community who pointed out a series of recent marketing images may have included elements of generative AI, we are rethinking our process of how we work with vendors for our marketing creative,” reads thestatement.
It continues, explaining how WotC will tackle the issue going forward. “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,” it reads. “What’s now apparent is that we need to update the way we work with vendors on creative beyond our products—like marketing images we use on social media—to ensure that we’re supporting the amazing human ingenuity that is so important to Magic.”
“Our aim is to always come down on the side of human made art and artists.”
WotC adds that it will “get better at understanding” AI art, so it can spot it before publication. It stresses that it “can’t promise to be perfect”, but that it will “always come down on the side of human-made art and artists.”
This is a much more in-depth statement than WotC’s initial rebuttal, which did little to win over fans. Many pointed to the strange mistakes and inconsistencies in the render, which are typical of the errors found in AI-generated art.
WotC has already taken a stance against AI art being used in Magic: the Gathering cards, anddistances itself from creators that are found to have stolen from other artists. It remains to be seen if it can stick to this pledge to remain vigilant against AI art across all of its business dealings, particularly when the art is created by third parties.
