Dave Rapoza, an artist working on a well-known game “Magic: The Gathering” stated that he is quitting after learning that the publisher has utilized AI art.
The artist took to X (formerly Twitter) to express his disappointment and wrote, “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, goodbye you all!”
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
— Dave Rapoza (@DaveRapoza) January 6, 2024
Back in December, Wizards of the Coast forbade artists and designers from using AI. The company behind the game denied that they are using AI to create the background for their recent promotional image after audiences had their suspicions.
A couple of days later, they overturned their previous statement and confessed that AI components had somehow made their way to the image, which was then deleted immediately. The company issued an apology for the said error and claimed that the background of the image came from a third-party vendor.
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 a released statement found on their website, they wrote, “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. 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 make sure that we’re supporting the amazing human ingenuity that is so important to Magic.”
“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,” their statement continued.
Rapoza made a follow-up post stating that he does not plan to return to work regardless of the company’s response.
His statement wrote, “I’m not going to return for work, let’s see how this all pans out over time. My hope is they stick to their word but everyone seems to be heading that direction so I’ll hang for awhile.”
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