[KOTAKU] Xbox Slammed For AI-Generated Art Promoting Indie Games

Bishop89 · Dec 28, 2023

'Tis the season to promote indie games with AI-generated junk, apparently. A Microsoft Twitter account recently posted low-effort, energy-intensive art promoting indie games on Xbox before later deleting it after getting roundly mocked by fans and developers alike.

"Walking in a indie wonderlaaand," the ID@Xbox account tweeted on December 27. "What were your favorite indie games of the year?" The post was accompanied by an AI-generated image of children sledding down a hill with a giant green Xbox logo on it.

It looked harmless at first, but a second or third glance immediately revealed telltale AI anomalies like children maneuvering their sleds with cranks attached to nothing and fishing in the snow for presents with weird black tendrils. A man playing a gaming handheld in the center top of the image has had his top lip replaced by teeth. A child jumping through the snow appears to have a mustache. It was a really bad look considering ID@Xbox is supposed to be the human-facing team within the megacorporation championing individual creators and small independent teams.

"Bro not Xbox using ayy-eye to promote indie devs," wrote pixel artist TAHK0. "Nothing says 'we don't care about indie developers' like using AI," wrote artist NecroKuma3. " If you can't hire an artist to do advertising, I highly doubt you'll do it with independent developers." The company quietly deleted the post overnight without acknowledging the backlash. Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

View: https://twitter.com/matto_bii/status/1740122582802956620?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1740122582802956620%7Ctwgr%5E4c3bd2875ae82a706b5e6dbbaa09caf26195741b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2Fembed%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-1740122582802956620autosize%3D1

Lock if old.

Shirkelton · Dec 28, 2023

Eventually we're going to get to a point where AI is not only generating these posts, but also deciding to take them down and generating the apology that follows. Then the real fun begins.

carlsojo · Dec 28, 2023

Shirkelton said:
Eventually we're going to get to a point where AI is not only generating these posts, but also deciding to take them down and generating the apology that follows. Then the real fun begins.

AI generated forum posts discussing

CloseTalker · Dec 28, 2023

releasing an image where the only clearly visible face is clearly janky as hell is pretty hilarious

Kalentan · Dec 28, 2023

Shirkelton said:
Eventually we're going to get to a point where AI is not only generating these posts, but also deciding to take them down and generating the apology that follows. Then the real fun begins.

Pretty sure it was confirmed that the Gollum game apology was AI generated.

nsilvias · Dec 28, 2023

you employ thousands of artists. ask one of them to do something for you

Falk · Dec 28, 2023

nsilvias said:
you employ thousands of artists. ask one of them to do something for you

but maybe they're all on winter break????????

sarcasm

DeliciousSunnyD! · Dec 28, 2023

Well, at least they are promoting Independent developers!!!

/s

Xeonidus · Dec 28, 2023

Didn't microsoft dedicate billions in open AI? Of course they're going to use it. Not that it's right, mind you.

Edit: They're clearly not going to stop here either. I remember one of their execs talking up the benefits of AI for games development.

Mahaveer RaGOATnatan · Dec 28, 2023

I thought they used AI generated images of games instead it was just that.

Arc · Dec 28, 2023

You'd think they'd see how shitty the AI Art is and say surely we could just pay one of the thousands and thousands of artists we employ to promote our initiative in a way that doesn't look terrible.

Disco Infernal · Dec 28, 2023

firehawk12 · Dec 28, 2023

Poor intern working over the holiday break.

AEF1907 · Dec 28, 2023

Multiverse Moo · Dec 28, 2023

Xeonidus said:
Didn't microsoft dedicate billions in open AI? Of course they're going to use it. Not that it's right, mind you.

Edit: They're clearly not going to stop here either. I remember one of their execs talking up the benefits of AI for games development.

There are lots of benefits to leveraging AI in game development. Has been for years.

This image generation stuff though? Trash

elenarie · Dec 28, 2023

Of the infinite amount of games they could have used for this as an image, some social media account manager decided to do this stupid thing. Happy holidays. 🙃

bitcloudrzr · Dec 28, 2023

AEF1907 said:

Even this would be better:

Giga Man · Dec 28, 2023

Disco Infernal said:

Oh, this gif makes me angry. LOL!

SolidSnakeUS · Dec 28, 2023

elenarie said:
Of the infinite amount of games they could have used for this as an image, some social media account manager decided to do this stupid thing. Happy holidays. 🙃

That means paying somebody for proper work.

We know they're strapped for cash. /s

Hero of Legend · Dec 28, 2023

I literally saw an ad tweet by MS like an hour ago promoting "what can AI do to improve your business" or something. MS are obsessed with AI, clearly. :/

Gavalanche · Dec 28, 2023

Microsoft have spent billions on AI, of course they are doing it. Everyone will eventually, they are just at the forefront. It's sucks but it is inevitable at this point.

J75 · Dec 28, 2023

After they pulled that AI garbo Assasin's Creed tweet, I knew it opened the floodgates for this garbino.

This AI future gonna fucking suck so much, I hate for the day when the artifacts in AI get tougher to track.

Aarglefarg · Dec 28, 2023

Microsoft is going in big on AI, like today they promoted their number of AI-generated image and Copilot interactions. I linked to their blog post, but this data also appeared as a tab they popped up in Edge unprompted.

This year, Edge and Bing users engaged in more than 1.9 billion Copilot chats. That's equal to the total number of websites that existed on the internet last year!

And users created over 1.8 billion AI-generated images, which is 1800x more than the entire combined collection of the Louvre and Metropolitan Museum!

Microsoft Edge: Looking back at an unforgettable 2023

As 2023 comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment and reflect on what a remarkable period it has been. We've had a year of innovation, creativity, growth, and ushering in the era of AI – all with the goal of helping you achieve more than you eve

blogs.windows.com

SinnyIndonesian · Dec 28, 2023

That looks really awful. I can't believe some project lead or something that signs off on the image used would look at that and say "That's good enough". Maybe if they're being spiteful and trying to show some higher ups pushing for AI use that it would look bad, I guess.

RPGam3r · Dec 28, 2023

Fuck off MS. You make enough money to pay a damn artist to come up with something that at least makes sense when you look at it. Keeping pushing this shit and watch me get pushed away.

Handsome James · Dec 28, 2023

Seems silly all around

TheAvatar · Dec 28, 2023

its kinda funny, ai people and companies keep insisting that people will get used to this new ai art world but i feel people are getting angrier and angrier as time passes

elenarie · Dec 28, 2023

SolidSnakeUS said:
That means paying somebody for proper work.

We know they're strapped for cash. /s

It's not even that. Someone thought they were just being smart and cute.

PrepaidPostage · Dec 28, 2023

The people that approve decisions like this are bad people.

Bing's AI says it can't be used for commercial purposes.

Redirecting

and Microsoft was sued two days ago by the new york times for using AI stuff without permission!

the sociopaths that run this stuff deserve to be fired.

SolidSnakeUS · Dec 28, 2023

elenarie said:
It's not even that. Someone thought they were just being smart and cute.

Honestly, it boils down to lazy. I know that gets really frowned upon using that word here, but it's up straight lazy.

Dhruvenator · Dec 28, 2023

PrepaidPostage said:
The people that approve decisions like this are bad people.

Bing's AI says it can't be used for commercial purposes.

Redirecting

and Microsoft was sued two days ago for using AI stuff without permission!

the sociopaths that run this stuff deserve to be fired.

It's not that serious - a silly mistake that doesn't deserve people losing their liveihood you ninkumpoop

RayCharlizard · Dec 28, 2023

I understand the frustration here. It's disappointing when a platform like ID@Xbox, which supposedly champions individual creators and independent teams, opts for AI-generated art instead of showcasing the incredible work of those very creators they claim to support. It feels like a missed opportunity to celebrate and highlight the talent within the indie gaming community.

The decision to use AI-generated art, especially when it's visibly flawed and disconnected from the spirit of indie games, can come off as tone-deaf. It's understandable that fans and developers alike would feel let down by such an approach.

Ultimately, it would be wonderful to see these platforms prioritize and uplift the authentic work of indie creators, giving them the recognition they truly deserve. The authenticity and uniqueness of indie games are their selling points, and it's a shame when promotional efforts miss the mark by resorting to AI-generated content.

Let's hope for more thoughtful and genuine promotion that truly honors the creativity and effort of indie game developers in the future.

This reply was written by ChatGPT.

Vigilante Joker · Dec 28, 2023

What am I even looking at lol

Handsome James · Dec 28, 2023

In all seriousness, AI isn't going anywhere, and will become more prevalent in game development in the next couple of decades in various forms. This right here though was a social media tweet about nothing. I wonder how extreme reactions will be 5 years from now, or I wonder if people will begin to adapt

Yasumi · Dec 28, 2023

The fact that this was done to promote *indie devs* of all things is just a malicious level of irony. They could've thrown some clipart together jfc.

bitcloudrzr · Dec 28, 2023

RPGam3r said:
You make enough money

There is never enough and will never be enough money.

Harpoon · Dec 28, 2023

SinnyIndonesian said:
That looks really awful. I can't believe some project lead or something that signs off on the image used would look at that and say "That's good enough". Maybe if they're being spiteful and trying to show some higher ups pushing for AI use that it would look bad, I guess.

That's one of the things that frustrates me the most. Has this tech really hypnotized marketers that much that they don't even stop and look at the horrid-looking garbage they're sending out? I'm going to join you in hoping this was someone trying to prove a point to higher-ups.

TripleBee · Dec 28, 2023

I mean at this point Microsoft is AI. It's what will likely propel them past Apple. Doubt they are going to back away.

But it is a bad look to promote indie games.

SirNinja · Dec 28, 2023

Kalentan said:
Pretty sure it was confirmed that the Gollum game apology was AI generated.

The AI getting the name of the game incorrect ("The Lord of Ring: Gollum") was a slight tell.

Then someone ran it through an AI detector and it came back like a 99% match for ChatGPT lol. Nacon's contempt for its audience is absolutely stunning.

edit: I can't believe that tweet is still up. They just really don't care whatsoever...

Rhaknar · Dec 28, 2023

PrepaidPostage said:
The people that approve decisions like this are bad people.

Bing's AI says it can't be used for commercial purposes.

Redirecting

and Microsoft was sued two days ago by the new york times for using AI stuff without permission!

the sociopaths that run this stuff deserve to be fired.

you should google what the word sociopath means.

Radec · Dec 28, 2023

If you're going to use AI, at least do it properly lol.

Someone made a video ad mostly from AI

Praedyth · Dec 28, 2023

carlsojo said:
AI generated forum posts discussing

Mandatory AI first posts for Weekend Era threads

L Thammy · Dec 28, 2023

Had a big discussion over Christmas wherein a guy who I was meeting for the first time argued that AI destroying jobs was okay and we don't have to care about it while basically everyone else at the table was at some level of agreement that the AI, and emerging technologies in general, cause a lot of damage specifically because they are utilized by immoral business interests which are specifically seeking the subvert any responsibilities they have to benefit others, including their own employees.

Strings · Dec 28, 2023

Iunno, there's nothing surprising about Microsoft posting an AI image as it's a huge pillar of their company atm. I don't like it but it's unsurprising.

carlsojo said:
AI generated forum posts discussing

I trained an AI on thousands of ResetEra thread conversations and it created hot gaming shitposts

You may remember a few months ago I trained an AI to create ResetEra threads titles using my textgenrnn framework. In February, OpenAI released their GPT-2 framework which generates uncannily good outputs. They open sourced a smaller model, and I am currently working on a wrapper to make it easy...

www.resetera.com

Scottoest · Dec 28, 2023

It's pretty well-documented that Microsoft are all-in on leveraging AI across all sorts of things they sell and services they offer.

Regarding this specifically, I suspect it was just a social media person getting an image to post instead of using pre-existing artwork.

Kard8p3 · Dec 28, 2023

never stop mocking the fucking morons who do shit like this

Shoot · Dec 28, 2023

This feels like making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Aarglefarg said:
Microsoft is going in big on AI, like today they promoted their number of AI-generated image and Copilot interactions. I linked to their blog post, but this data also appeared as a tab they popped up in Edge unprompted.

Microsoft Edge: Looking back at an unforgettable 2023

As 2023 comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment and reflect on what a remarkable period it has been. We've had a year of innovation, creativity, growth, and ushering in the era of AI – all with the goal of helping you achieve more than you eve

blogs.windows.com

This. An image generated by a social media worker with Bing Chat over the holidays is hardly worth an outrage over stuff like this happening at a global scale.

PrepaidPostage said:
The people that approve decisions like this are bad people.

Bing's AI says it can't be used for commercial purposes.

Redirecting

and Microsoft was sued two days ago by the new york times for using AI stuff without permission!

the sociopaths that run this stuff deserve to be fired.

Chill out.

Stath · Dec 28, 2023

Shoot said:
This feels like making a mountain out of a mole hill.

This. An image generated by a social media worker with Bing Chat over the holidays is hardly worth an outrage over stuff like this happening at a global scale.

Chill out.

It's embarrassing and insulting. No.

j7vikes · Dec 28, 2023

Handsome James said:
In all seriousness, AI isn't going anywhere, and will become more prevalent in game development in the next couple of decades in various forms. This right here though was a social media tweet about nothing. I wonder how extreme reactions will be 5 years from now, or I wonder if people will begin to adapt

Like everything else I fear it will just become accepted for the most part. I hope I'm wrong but thats what tends to happen with a lot of anti worker technology.

KezayJS1 · Dec 28, 2023

Hero of Legend said:
I literally saw an ad tweet by MS like an hour ago promoting "what can AI do to improve your business" or something. MS are obsessed with AI, clearly. :/

They literally are planning to integrate AI tech into Office and the implementation is legitimately cool. Of course, they're all about it. For better and for worse unfortunately.

[KOTAKU] Xbox Slammed For AI-Generated Art Promoting Indie Games

What Are Ya' Selling?

Shinra Employee

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Fallen Guardian Corrupted by Vengeance

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One Winged Slayer

Spacenoid

Saw the truth behind the copied door

Definitely not shooting blanks