
If you keep up with developments in The Pokémon Trading Card Game scene, you might have heard about a recent 'Illustration Contest' where select entrants were accused of submitting AI-generated work.
This has caused quite a stir within the community and now The Pokémon Company has come forward with an official statement explaining how it's committed to "upholding the integrity" of this contest, and entrants in violation of the rules have been immediately disqualified.
Although this statement doesn't specifically mention AI-generated content, this follows many members of the TCG community documenting possible AI-generated submissions on social media and elsewhere online. It's also noted by TPC, how it will continue to "celebrate the artistic abilities of the talented" community.
The Pokémon Company: We are aware that select entrants from the top 300 finanlists of the Pokémon TCG Illustration Contest 2024 have violated the official contest rules. As a result, entrants in violation of the rules have been disqualified from the contest.
Furthermore, additional artists participating in the contest will soon be selected to be among the top 300 finalists.
We're committed to upholding the integrity of the Pokémon TCG Illustration Contest and appreciate fans' continued support as we celebrate the artistic abilities of the talented Pokémon community.
According to previous reports published a week before this statement from The Pokémon Company, multiple submissions within the 'top 300 finalists' were accused of being created with AI, with another breach of the rules believed to be multiple submissions under different names by select participants.
The TCG community has responded positively to this latest update, thanking The Pokémon Company for taking action.
If we hear any significant developments or updates, we'll let you know.
Comments 16
As a ccg is the actual card game fun? Or is it pay to win like some ccg ie you have better cards you're more likely going to win? Do they have commander style decks? I understand I can Google these things, sue me I'm lazy and my sister is dumb.
I hope that TPC looked thoroughly into this before making any decisions on disqualifying members of the competition. There's been a good number of artists that have gotten accused for using generative Ai- despite never using it in the first place.
This being said however- if this is generative Ai, good riddance. The people who entered that into the contest deserve to be kicked out for doing that. Art contests are about the celebration and recognition of the craft, which Ai has no place in. A few years back when Ai art was in its infancy, people used to enter it into art contests- with it winning against real human works. Something that should not be permitted, given that it's a mockery of those who actually have the skills and put in the effort to produce their own works.
Ai as a whole has been a net-negative for artists in general and it saddens me to see that smaller creators have been drowned in a sea of genuine garbage.
@rvcolem1
@link3710 thanks for the well written and broken down response. You are a gentleman and a scholar. May you be served the second best clam chowder in the world one day.
AI generated pictures mostly looked terrible if you pay attention closely the details.
@VoidofLight Yeah, if the artworks were authentic and not AI, hopefully they reconsider their decision and, like you said, did look into it thoroughly.
I like to draw, and whenever I go on Instagram, I come across multiple short videos of skilled digital artists getting accused of using AI and having to show process videos to prove that they didn’t use an AI in their art, but sometimes it isn’t even enough proof. I used to gush about how good AI was with artwork and even used some pictures I generated from it as inspiration for a couple of my own physical drawings back then, but I really dislike it now because of how much damage it has caused to the art space, plus the fact I used AI generated images for aid in some of my older artworks makes me feel dirty because of how the AI makes the pictures by taking other authentic artworks and images it finds on the internet. It pains me to see artists struggle and sometimes lose art competitions to artificial and fake AI “artwork” with no real soul or work out into it.
@Pastellioli I'm not educated on this topic but want to learn more as you seem passionate and knowledgeable. Do you think doing a separate contest or an "open" division would be a decent idea? Do people using AI art program the AI for specific outcomes or do they use tools from an existing program and manipulate them from there?
This is why we can’t have nice things
@rvcolem1 : It's a lot of fun, but I've only very rarely had a chance to play with physical cards. The Game Boy Color adaptations are fantastic and a great way to learn the basics.
Sad :C
Did the Japanese dominate the contest again?
@SillyG cool may your sister's brother's mother's son one day find the best pizza in Alberta Canada.
Honestly I may give it a look. Now I need to make a real friend
@rvcolem1 : Bless your kind and fluffy heart, my many-lived son.
Generated AI art is simply superior so let it stay if it's true. Any artists upset are just jealous they have to painstakingly master the craft by hand for years into order to create something truly unique.
Meanwhile "true" artists have mastered entering a few prompts into a machine to create generic derivative works of art regurgitated by the thousands.
@rvcolem1 Sorry if I’m writing this a little late and if this is a large wall of text!
To answer your question, I do not think that companies making a separate contest solely for AI “artworks” would be a good idea, since it’s no one actually making artwork and it’s rather a machine doing it. To me, it would make it feel like a contest to see which AI produced the most prettiest and most authentic and detailed picture, which I think strays away from the actual meaning and reason behind art contests, which is usually for younger artists to show off their works and wow people, as well to motivate them and give them a positive experience and opportunities related to the talent they are most passionate about.
I’m no expert on AI, but I do think people that use AI art generators do ask for a specific outcome or image by entering a prompt or a description of what the person wants. As a random example I came up with on the spot, a person might write a prompt like “manga-style artwork of a princess playing baseball with cows” in an AI art generator and the AI would make the picture requested by the user by reinterpreting and taking images and art related to the prompt from the internet to aid in creating the picture. A specific outcome a person wants from the AI is more likely to be produced if the person defines what it is they want in the picture and adding in details that they want in it. However, some people might use other tools in other programs to edit the AI’s picture if the AI doesn’t give them the specific result they would like and if it strays away from what the person had in mind. Sometimes the pictures are edited to make it appear like it was made by an actual person and not a machine, which is very malicious.
@rvcolem1 A contest made for Ai works isn't needed because Ai works aren't actually art in the first place. It's just a machine without any idea of the rules of the craft being played around with by people who think they're artists despite lacking in the basic understandings of the craft itself. None of the people using Ai deserve to have their works copyrighted or even earn money from contests.
It was so incredibly obvious, the fact the offending ‘artworks’ made it through is a damning insight into the judging process. Not only were these pictures AI generated, the same person used variations of their name that a child could see through to get past the submission limits. Feel for artists who didn’t get through.
Tap here to load 16 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...