Xbox Called Out For Promoting Indie Games Using AI-Generated Art
Photo 267478567 © Maxim Stukonozhenko | Dreamstime.com
Xbox recently found itself at the center of a frosty controversy after using AI-generated art to promote its indie games lineup on social media.
On December 27, Microsoft’s ID@Xbox X/Twitter account shared a winter-themed illustration to draw attention to indie games. The image, showcasing children sledding in a snowy landscape, was quickly called out for its bizarre anomalies, including a child sporting a mustache and unnatural hands.
So it seems @ID_Xbox deleted their tweet using AI art. Thankfully I still have a screenshot of the tweet below.
— Warwick 🎄 (they/them) (@WarwickOnX) December 28, 2023
Now to wait for their apology... pic.twitter.com/OHRam2UzbB
“Walking in an indie wonderlaaand,” Xbox wrote in the caption. Users did not share the joyous sentiment, pointing out their suspicions that the graphic was produced by artificial intelligence, and not a human artist. The move was especially irksome to some since the gaming giant had used it to supposedly uplift smaller creators.
Wonderful, good job. https://t.co/Uk6mQt1sxv pic.twitter.com/KCGYOI5oIV
— Drawsgood (@drawsgood) December 27, 2023
“Nothing says ‘we don’t care about indie developers’ like using AI,” one artist commented.
“Come on… you can’t celebrate independent creators with this AI art,” another user said. “Please be better than this.”
bro not Xbox using ayy-eye to promote indie devs https://t.co/EZBgen84WX
— TAHK0 â˜•ï¸ (@TAHK0) December 28, 2023
The contention surrounding AI art is, of course, not new; it’s rooted in concerns about AI models being trained on artists’ work without proper attribution or compensation. Marvel Studios, for one, has been criticized for using synthetically created artwork in a Loki Season Two poster and in the enter opening sequence for the Disney+ series Secret Invasion.
Oh that’s an AI image being used to “celebrate” indie games https://t.co/XjR6nv1Ks3 pic.twitter.com/dR2LRCFkxg
— Kirbyfan45 and the Forgor Account Deluxe (@kirbyalt45) December 27, 2023
Xbox’s use of such imagery in a final product, without noticeable human intervention (the strange details could have been easily edited out), has, unsurprisingly, struck a nerve.
The company swiftly deleted the tweet without a word.
