Why has a noted Wizards of the Coast artist quit working for the company? The ‘Magic: The Gathering’ controversy, explained

wegotthiscovered.com:

Things are looking bleak for artists at the moment, and a situation unfolding over at Magic: The Gathering‘s parent company Wizards of the Coast is a solid example of why.

The basics go something like this: In a new age of artificial intelligence, Wizards of the Coast has been steadfast in their assertion that none of their products will be A.I. generated. That promise came into question recently when a series of promotional images for the company’s “Ravnica Remastered” card set looked, to fans, not quite right.

Wizards of the Coast’s critical miss

I guess the whole ad campaign was made with A/I generated imagery, then retouched to give it a semblance of man-made craft. pic.twitter.com/St5bXhcXfu

Responding to internet complaints that the backgrounds in the company’s promotional images had a lot of the hallmarks of A.I.-generated art, Wizards of the Coast released a since-deleted statement on X, promising that, like everything they produced, their promotional art was made by people. Real people. The kinds with arteries and pets and stuff.

Longtime Magic: The Gathering artist David Rapoza was one of several big names in the industry who put their foot down. Replying to the company’s post, Rapoza disagreed with the claim that WotC just happened to hire an artist who drew things in a way that looks a lot like A.I.-generated art.

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! https://t.co/RAfJi5NhxR

Since Rapoza’s public exit from the company, Wizards of the Coast has stepped back its claims regarding the authenticity of their purportedly man-made promo images, posting on January 7 that they’d “made a mistake earlier” and that “…some AI components that are now popping up in industry-standard tools like Photoshop crept into our marketing