Wizards of the Coast Repeats Anti-AI Art Stance After Player’s Handbook Controversy [IGN]

In a statement made today on the Magic: The Gathering website, Wizards of the Coast has reaffirmed its anti-artificial intelligence policy, elaborating upon comments they made on X (formerly Twitter).

The statements come after fans began to speculate that some of the art teased for the 2024 Player’s Handbook planned for next year relied on AI, due to some believing that an image of a dwarf was missing one of his arms.

This image, combined with layoffs at Wizards earlier this year which included some artists and a job listing for a “touch up artist,” led some to speculate the company had plans to replace some of their artists with AI tools.

Wizards responded to the questions about the Player’s Handbook art on X yesterday, writing, “We confirmed with the artist that no generative AI was used, which is consisteny with our artist guidelines restricting it.

https://t.co/tf7SRfmAUN pic.twitter.com/3gjWhwyN8Z

— D&D Beyond (@DnDBeyond) December 18, 2023

Then today, it released a full statement, which reads:

For 30 years, Magic: The Gathering has been built on the innovation, ingenuity, and hard work of talented people who sculpt a beautiful, creative game. That isn’t changing. Our internal guidelines remain the same with regard to artificial intelligence tools: We require artists, writers, and creatives contributing to the Magic TCG to refrain from using AI generative tools to create final Magic products. We work with some of the most talented artists and creatives in the world, and we believe those people are what makes Magic great.

Artists familiar with the the company also chimed in on social media to vouch for Wizards of the Coast as well.

I know we all want to see corporations burn, but WotC has been one of the few who were firmly anti AI from the start and nothing but supporting to artists. I have no idea where the ‘Hasbro fired mostly artists’ narrative is even coming from. 1/2 https://t.co/Z7IMJ5SvLV

— Christina Kraus 🌱🐺 (@ElbenherzArt) December 20, 2023

As someone who is-
A) staunchly anti ai
B) not trusting of corps
C) had the top of his aragon illustration extended upward by a dedicated in house toucher-upper who would have said duties

– I know this is a nothing burger. Focus your efforts to combat ai elsewhere. pic.twitter.com/xomdMxkWCO

— Jason Rainville (@JasonRainville) December 20, 2023

Other artists sought to clarify that the existence of touch up artists does not imply a move to AI-generated art, clarifying that touching up art internally after its been commissioned is a common practice:

In gaming, almost all outsourced art is touched up internally, either for quality/style or to repurpose it for marketing. WotC hiring a “touch up artist” does not mean they’re turning to AI…

Stop retweeting conspiracies from people who don’t even work in game art.

— Jon Neimeister (@Andantonius) December 20, 2023

Wizards of the Coast plans to release the updated 2024 Player’s Handbook, alongside the Dungeon Master’s Guide and the Monster Manual next year, which IGN had a chance to take an early look at when we visited their headquarters earlier this year.

Travis Northup is a freelance writer at IGN.