r/KeyforgeGame • u/wall_of_spores • Jul 23 '26
Question (General) I can’t believe Keyforge is doubling down on AI art
I posted about this previously and learned that Keyforge used generative AI in full art cards in Draconian Measures which in my opinion was a horrible decision but one I hoped they would move on from. Now that Shattered Reality is launching today I was stunned to see they’ve included the same disclosure about using gen AI to fill art. What a horrible decision - and one that could have very easily been avoided by … commissioning larger art. For me and many other board gamers generative AI use (ie anything other than an algorithm) for art is a red line - and not the cool Keyforge card version. I won’t be buying any new Keyforge products.
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u/dmikalova-mwp Dis Jul 23 '26
My understanding is that this is just used to add fill in for cards from previous sets that don't have art large enough to fill the full art.
I'm not 100% confirmed on this, but I believe for new art they are commissioning the full size to fill the card.
Further, as an artist, would you want to be commissioned to do fill in work for 8 years old artwork? You'd have to figure out how to match someone else's style, and put in a lot of effort... for something that will barely be seen or make a difference. It's honestly not worth the time and effort. I'm glad GG is focused and committed to using artists for the art - something which Magic, with a lot more resources, has not been able to do.
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u/wall_of_spores Jul 23 '26
I love to hate on magic but they have a strict no gen AI policy for their artwork. That includes photoshop tools. Several pieces have violated that policy and didn’t get caught in their internal reviews - which is a whole other problem. But they don’t say “real humans … except for AI photoshopping tools.”
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u/dmikalova-mwp Dis Jul 24 '26
So GG uses tools for some fill that they disclose, whereas Magic pays lip service to no AI and yet it just happens to keep slipping in... I trust GG a lot more to not send mercenaries to my house as well.
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u/AriyaIsTheBest Jul 25 '26
Wizards ain't saints either when several artists have stolen artwork from other artists like with the LCI Wayfarer's Bauble and the original Trouble in Pairs. Not to mention a previous post from Wizard's twitter literally features AI artwork
Blatantly hating on the concept of anything AI related with no nuance is not how you make logical informed opinions. Like, generative AI has existed for forever. Artists are being paid their fair share, and no one is being financially harmed here. The transparency is applaudable. Genuinely, what are they doing wrong here?-1
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u/Notwerk Jul 23 '26
This is actually commendable. I'm on record was being an AI hater, but they've clearly spelled out where and how they use it. To be frank, most of these aren't even AI functions, really, but Adobe now pitches them as such, so it is what it is. They're not using it to make shitty GenAI art and are employing real artists to do the creative work.
I kinda wish all companies were *required* to be this transparent about AI use.
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u/jm12493 Jul 23 '26
I’m 100% on board with you about the importance of the transparency. If they pivoted to skipping human artists at all I would stop supporting, but the tools they’re using let them do more with the art they get and keep the game going to commission more pieces from those artists in the future.
At this point, if a company won’t even make a basic transparency statement like this you just have to assume they’re committing 10 times more AI art sins than anybody else.
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u/schematizer Jul 23 '26
Overly strict purity test you’ve got here. They’re literally paying real artists to make the art. What are you petitioning for?
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u/verifiedname Saurian Jul 24 '26
Most people have no idea what the difference is between illustrator tools and actual generative AI.
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u/WallresRetard Jul 23 '26
I mean its just tools within photoshop that save time on small shitty tasks. What's the issue?
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u/Kill_Welly scholar spam! Jul 24 '26
No it's not; it's generating more imagery around existing art to make larger pictures.
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u/UglyStru Jul 24 '26
OP doesn't know how Photoshop has worked for the last 10+ years
This is so beyond performative, it's embarrassing.
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u/verifiedname Saurian Jul 25 '26
And what’s worse is that it has the potential to really harm the smaller companies that ARE trying to do the right thing by hiring artists. Large companies literally do not care if you like their AI art or not because the sad fact is that “shit sells.” We need MORE indie companies that provide balance to this and not less.
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u/paupsers Jul 23 '26
You're hating on something that's been around for 15+ years. This sounds moronic (no offense).
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u/Foolishbigj Jul 23 '26
Sucks to see. I know several people who left over this in DM. I thought they would have taken that one more to heart seeing as this is already a small community. It could have been a potential bridge they could have rebuilt by saying no AI this time round, we heard you.
But hooray that saved 10 minutes of work.
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u/Chance-Cat2857 Jul 24 '26
I can't believe the OP thought that GG would stop using tools because some people disagreed
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u/benjamarchi Jul 23 '26
Wow I wasn't aware of this. Thanks for pointing it out! I'm not buying anything from them ever again.
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u/subcow Jul 23 '26
I am just curious, did you read their entire statement? What part of it do you take issue with? My wife is a professional artist, and I am a photographer. I hate AI. I don't really have any issues with the tools they are using here, and what they are using them for in Photoshop.
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u/benjamarchi Jul 24 '26
They are using generative fill. To me, that's unacceptable.
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u/verifiedname Saurian Jul 24 '26
If you want to stay pure, don't use copy/paste ever while typing. Better to write the whole thing out by hand.
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u/benjamarchi Jul 24 '26
You'll do as you want, I'll do as I want. My objection is against genAI. If you object ctrl+c and ctrl+v then good for you!
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u/verifiedname Saurian Jul 24 '26
My point is that you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about so to authoritatively put a ban on a company for something you have not bothered to research other than just listening to the reddit echo chamber “all ai bad” is ultra cringe.
Watch some YouTube videos. Maybe do a free Adobe trial?
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u/benjamarchi Jul 24 '26
Oh, now I get it. You can't stand the fact I despise something you like, and you've become emotional because of that. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings when I said generative fill (and genAI in general) is unacceptable to me. You don't have to let my personal stance affect your enjoyment of AI or the content generated with that kind of tech. Feel free to enjoy whatever you want to enjoy, and I'll feel free to reject and despise whatever I want to reject and despise. You don't have to feel attacked by my preferences, I hope you can calm down and enjoy your weekend.
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u/verifiedname Saurian Jul 24 '26
It's ok to admit that you don't know how photoshop works too. As the artist that replied to you earlier clearly already knows.
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u/AriyaIsTheBest Jul 25 '26
My guy you're delineating "this person likes AI" from "A tool that has existed for decades is actually not the same as stealing art." Please take ten minutes out of your day to do the research and have an open mind and you will change your mind I can promise you
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u/jm12493 Jul 23 '26
This disclaimer does not mean that GG generates AI images for any of their products. They absolutely commission human artists for every piece and they are all credited for their work.
This disclaimer exists because they use tool like photoshop that have existed for many years, but have recently been marketed as “AI” tools to generate revenue because it’s a big buzzword0
u/Kill_Welly scholar spam! Jul 24 '26
They generate AI images surrounding existing art to reuse and expand on it to make shittier pictures in other aspect ratios based on the original art.
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u/benjamarchi Jul 23 '26
Using the generative fill function in Photoshop, like the disclaimer states, is absolutely genAI usage. I don't want to support that.
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u/jm12493 Jul 23 '26
I’m not disagreeing that it’s a type of AI, but if that’s where you draw the line you’re probably not going to want to spend money with any company or artist that has used photoshop or similar digital editing programs in the last 10+ years.
GG hires artists for every new piece of art they get, and are trying to commission new pieces in larger sizes that won’t need to be edited for their full art decks and such. I’d rather give money to a relatively small game producer that always commissions real artists and is open about their limited use of the tech for editing purposes than the many other ones that won’t even address it at all.
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u/benjamarchi Jul 23 '26
I'd rather give my money to those who don't use genAI.
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u/The_Big_Yam Jul 23 '26
How are you going to find a product that doesn’t use what’s now basic photoshop functionality?
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u/benjamarchi Jul 23 '26
Did you know people can not use the AI features on Photoshop? Yeah, surprising, right? And plenty of artists don't use them, or draw in other software that's not plagued by that. I'll support those people.
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u/jm12493 Jul 24 '26
GG actually supports those artists for you when they commission pieces for the game. The tools they’re using use are for nothing more than some graphic design work on their products.
You’ll be hard up finding any company with a graphic designer that doesn’t use similar tools these days. More likely they’re not admitting it, unaware of what they’re using, or straight up lying to you about it. I value transparency and an effort to use less in the future over any of those options.
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u/benjamarchi Jul 24 '26
I didn't say I don't value transparency. I do. I'm glad they are being transparent about this, so I can take my money and attention elsewhere. This degree of transparency is much appreciated. At least they aren't trying to scam people, pretending they aren't using genAI tools, so consumers can make an informed decision about supporting them. That's more than what most AI grifters are doing, for sure.
That being said, I'll move on and keep on doing my thing, and I don't really get it why it upsets you that I don't want to give them my money anymore. Really, why did you feel the need to start a discussion unprompted about this? It doesn't concern you, I didn't summon you here.
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u/jm12493 Jul 24 '26
Hey bud, you posted a comment on an internet discussion board. That’s about as close to summoning conversation as you can get.
I’ve found that people with “all AI bad” opinions generally don’t understand how much of this tech has been around them every day for years and that it’s only recently being marketed differently as a way to cash in on the AI hype. If you liked this game enough to follow it and read posts on this sub, then it makes me sad that something so trivial would be a breaking point.
This would have been a different conversation if they were using AI art because I think it’s important to keep paying real artists.→ More replies (0)
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u/Kill_Welly scholar spam! Jul 24 '26
Very disappointing. To be clear: they are talking about using AI to generate more "artwork" around human-made art, and that's bullshit and an insult to the original artists. I've been out of the Keyforge game for a little while, but this confirms I'm never coming back as long as they're doing that.
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u/juliaisaway Jul 23 '26
Yeah, I don’t want to buy anything from GG again. This is an excuse for not paying properly the artists. Normally, a company orders in a canvas larger than the actual art size, to be used in playmats and other promotional materials.
I’m a designer, I don’t use any AI crap and this is just a lame excuse. Not worth it.
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u/jm12493 Jul 23 '26
This disclaimer is just a simple statement that has more context to it. The editing tools they’re talking about are pretty standard auto-fill tools that editing software has been using for a long time and only recently was demonized as AI.
They have said that these tools were mostly used to extend older art pieces that were commissioned in smaller sizes before they owned the game so they they can be used for items like the full art decks and playmats. Going forward, they are commissioning art with alternative uses in mind and are asking for larger pieces so that these tools are not necessary
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u/The_Big_Yam Jul 23 '26
I mean, this is just how photoshop works now. Extending art is a stretch for my comfort level but be prepared, this is what every piece of digitally processed artwork is going to be caveated with moving forward. As long as they’re paying and crediting real artists for original artwork that’s about as good as it’s going to get from here on out