WotC Under Fire For Generative AI Once Again – This Time It’s Video Games
Wizards of the Coast has come under fire from its community for generative AI use once again. This time, it’s related to video games.
Generative AI remains a hotbed issue for the tabletop and video game community. By and large, people want stories and games made by actual humans. Not “AI” trained up on Reddit posts and copypastas to spit out generic, biteless works. Corporations, on the other hand, want to save money by not paying those pesky humans to do the creative work that brings in all that dough.
It’s a match made in hell. And we’re all living through it. Generative AI in video games and tabletop RPGs both spark the same sentiment. WotC, being invested heavily in both arenas, has come under fire once again for the potential use of Generative AI. This time, for video games.
This is relevant because despite hiring for a position that would use Generative AI in the creation of assets for video games, WotC insists its stance on AI art and relying on the work of humans hasn’t changed.
Wizards of the Coast Seem Determined to Use AI After All
Here’s why we keep having this conversation. In August last year, AI imagery found in Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, caused massive backlash among the community. So much so that Wizards of the Coast put out a statement saying that it would never use generative AI to create its art or writing.
Then again, at the beginning of this year, the Magic: the Gathering Twitter account used AI art in its promo materials for an upcoming set, which again was caught by the community and again sparked a backlash and a new round of controversy.
Then again, at the beginning of the month, not long after VentureBeat interviewed Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, in which Cocks revealed he was “excited about AI,” WotC issued another statement saying they weren’t using AI and were committed to producing work by humans for humans.
Now Hiring AI Engineer
Naturally, we’re back once more. This time, with Wizards of the Coast coming under fire for a new job posting. Now, video games and AI have a more nuanced relationship. After all, your enemies need AI. It’s a problem that comes from the terminology. We call generative AI art even though it’s neither an artificial intelligence nor art.
A new job posting is looking to hire a Principal AI Engineer, which would be fine, except for a few key things:
The big sticking points are the AI engineer building and deploying “systems for intelligent generation of text dialog, audio, and art assets…” as well as using AI for “content creation and audio generation.” In other words, using generative AI instead of paying voice actors or writers.
That and WotC’s response to the community outcry in the first place, which seems to be, “This doesn’t count because it’s for video games.” As WotC told Comicbook.com:
Our stance on AI hasn’t changed. This job description is for a role for future video game projects. You can reference our AI FAQ here.
This may be WotC’s attempt to have its cake and eat it, too. But whatever the case, WotC still seems committed to not using AI in D&D and Magic, at least in the main versions of those products. Anything else is anyone’s guess right now.
With generative AI becoming more prevalent, there are murky waters ahead for us all.
