Gaming
Blaze Entertainment tried to AI their way to creativity. The results lowered confidence in both their brand and their ethics
The difference is in the hands
AI continues to be a blight on the world of the creative and creativity. And whilst the world of lazy, uncreatives are now brazenly braqnding themselves as AI artists on LinkedIn (you wrote a prompt in a text bar. Shut the fuck up.), it seems companies that are meant to bolster creatives can’t help but dip their hands in the data and art scraping digital theft masquerading as technological advancement.
Evercade creator Blaze Entertainment recently got caught being naughty and has since issued an apology after commissioning AI-generated artwork for its upcoming handheld console. The artwork, which was supposed to feature retro game characters, turned out to be a mishmash of distorted (derived from, highly likely, copyrighted images scraped from non-consenting artistes). Theft, quintessentially. Understandably, that sparked quite the outrage among fans.
Blaze Entertainment said that it was a mistake and that it will replace the artwork with original designs by human artists. You know, the people they tried to circumvent paying before being called out. The fact this right-about-turn was due to aesthetics and not ethics is a sad revelation on to itself. But hey, can one fault the method if the results are the same? The artists’ answer, in the case of AI’s current unethical data laundering, is a perpetual, undying yes.
