Blizzard Is Investigating Hearthstone Art After Being Accused of Using AI

With generative AI invading nearly every area of our lives, online hunters are especially vigilant and suspect every major company. Blizzard couldn't avoid their gaze and now has to check if its artist is sharing art with a machine.

As reported by PC Gamer, the new Hearthstone skins, datamined from The Great Dark Beyond expansion, could have been made by AI. In a now-deleted post, artist 1000_toasters pointed out several mistakes in the art, like the wrong tattoo on Malfurion's shoulder and a Horde symbol on the Doomhammer.

Looking at other images from the skins' creator Т4 is even more interesting as they sometimes feature "absolute AI classics" like the wrong number of fingers, messed up perspective, and other weird stuff. 

Hearthpwn's journalist imik has a nice thread that discusses this whole situation, check it out if you want to know more.

Blizzard's community manager quickly reacted to the news, saying the company was investigating the AI claims. So there is no definitive proof the skins were machine-made yet, but this whole situation is pretty incriminating.

Companies, especially those connected to art in any way, should remember: the public doesn't appreciate AI "effort" replacing human labor. Wizards of the Coast has felt this on its one skin after the visuals for Magic: The Gathering promo were proven to be AI-generated. Then again, it is getting harder to spot artificial intelligence in art every day.

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