the Gathering’ Artist Quits Over AI Art Use

• An artist who worked on “Magic: The Gathering” says he has quit over the company’s use of AI.
• Publisher Wizards of the Coast said part of a promo image from a third-party vendor used the tech.
• The company had previously barred artists and designers from using generative AI.

An artist who worked on the popular game “Magic: The Gathering” says he has quit over the publisher’s use of AI art.

In a post on X, Dave Rapoza said: “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!”

Wizards of the Coast, the company behind the game, barred artists and designers from using generative AI in December.

Wizards of the Coast initially denied that AI had been used to create the background for a recent promotional image after fans grew suspicious.

Only a few days later, the company backtracked and admitted that AI components had “crept into” the image, which was swiftly deleted. It apologized for the error and said the image background was sourced from a third-party vendor.

A statement posted on the company’s website said: “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,” the statement continued.

Rapoza said in a follow-up post he did not plan to return to work despite the company’s response.

“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,” he said.