One more game down with using AI. First, it started with relatives sending AI videos, then it was parents asking if AI slop is real, and all that led down the rabbit hole of beloved companies and games using AI. In a way, we can’t run away from it, but it really becomes a trend shoved in your face as if we are children on TikTok dealing with whatever the companies are selling in a Labubu Dubai Chocolate craze world.
The latest news from the Final Fantasy XIV fan event in Anaheim is that a new expansion called Evercold will be dropping on the long-running MMORPG. While the fan reactions have been positive about the latest expansion, certain things weren’t quite as warmly received as the rest.
Square Enix localiser Christopher Koji Fox shared that AI-generated art was used during an art panel, which led to a lot of negative knee-jerk reactions, as when it comes to art, people are more cutthroat about the inclusion of AI.
Koji Fox Burns Goodwill with AI Art
The event in question had a panel called “From Tacos to Tenders: Serving up the Lyrics of FFXIV,” where Koji Fox used AI art in images and videos instead of work from actual artists, which could’ve been done for less than his AI subscription and would not have led to backlash. It’s also a two-hour-long stream that’s now available online, which is a tough watch where you can instantly see the crowd’s disappointment. The audience was rather lively at the start of the event and filled the room with laughter, but then went dead silent once the AI rolled in.
There are a few examples of when AI art is used, such as where Fox uses “Copilot-kun” to generate a music video (which was shown two times to boot) and another where AI was used to show the music artists who worked on the Final Fantasy XIV game soundtrack, which absolutely deserved the personal touch of an artist.
The audience was rather lively at the start of the event and filled the room with laughter, but then went dead silent once the AI rolled in.
While Koji Fox apologised for having a time crunch and not managing to get something else in time, at least he didn’t pretend that it was drawn by him quickly. He claimed that he had no time to get permission to use official photos, but that doesn’t explain the video.
Fox went on to say that this was done “because our CEO has been keen on incorporating AI tools into our daily work, I decided to create an AI approximation of the famous artist that we’ve worked with on The Primals… and I did this to much success. And by much success, I mean no success.”
Yikes.
While this also seems to be pointing fingers at the Square Enix president, it ultimately is Fox who used it and generated it, rather than someone else generating it for him. While Takashi Kiryu, the head of Square Enix, has been advocating for AI since 2023, we should hold people accountable for blunders like these.
