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Alchemy Stars’ Collaborating Artist Under Fire for Using AI in Valentine's Art

13K View2023-02-18

On Valentine's Day, the mobile game Alchemy Stars, from Chinese developer Tourdog Studio's, released a piece of celebratory art on Twitter, which received widespread praise. The next day, the artist "Bu Er Q(卜尔Q) ", who created the artwork, posted the same image on Weibo to show their creation. But players quickly noticed that the artist’s image had some differences from the official.

They pointed out that the right foot was drawn in the wrong direction and had indistinct toe joints. This led players to suspect that the art had been generated using AI, as AI is especially prone to producing unnatural-looking feet and hands.

The comparison between Alchemy Stars' collaborating artist's picture (left) and the official team’s posts (right)

Some players provided further explanations on the game forum Tieba, stating that the official team internally modified the unnatural parts of the art: "It's obvious that the official team tried to fix them. But it's unclear if the artist's initial submission was approved by the team."

As doubts continued to grow, Tourdog Studio released a statement in the early morning of February 16th, addressing the situation. They stated that "the art is an overseas promotional image created by an external artist commissioned by our partner, and there is no plan to use it in the game." They further clarified that they "will not use AI-generated artwork in their products."

Tourdog Studio, the developer of Alchemy Stars, issued a response.

Artist Bu Er Q responded to the controversy.

In the early morning of the same day, the artist Bu Er Q also responded on Weibo, though they did not specifically say whether or not they used AI.

The artist said, “The illustration was not created using code as some people claimed. I shared the process of how I created it. Initially, I didn't feel satisfied with it, so I adjusted the composition and made several revisions, which took me several tens of hours.”

"The staff in the Alchemy Stars project team have been affected, and I am very sorry for the trouble caused. I will keep a record of the drawing of each picture and, when my schedule allows, I will livestream them or show a recording."

The controversy was then brought to the next level, as a large number of players quickly targeted another of Alchemy Stars illustrators, demanding further clarification from the official team.

The artist Ame (@来自异世界的雨), who participated in the design of multiple characters in Alchemy Stars, then shared their drafts and refinement process on Weibo, and stated that "I have never used AI".

Alchemy Stars’ illustrator Ame stated that they had never used AI and shared their sketches on Weibo.

At the same time, other online posts were attempting to ascertain whether certain Arknights characters' skins were created by AI, but during our search, we found that the creator of those posts had deleted them, leaving the claims without evidence.

The use of AI-generated illustrations has been rapidly increasing, but the recent Alchemy Stars case highlights the divided opinions on its usage.

In some sense, the constant hunt for the telltale signs of AI-generated work has had a negative impact on artists, as it has led to a sense of paranoia and suspicion surrounding the authenticity of artwork in general. This has resulted in a breakdown of trust between artists and their audiences, which is a significant loss to the creative community.

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