Ubisoft says AI-generated art in Anno 117 was a placeholder which ‘slipped through our review process’
The team uses AI for “iterations, prototyping and exploration”, Ubisoft says
Ubisoft has confirmed that its recently released Anno 117: Pax Romana includes a piece of AI-generated art, but says it wasn’t supposed to be in there.
The game’s Steam page includes an AI generated content disclosure – as is required by Steam for any games that use AI during development – which states that “AI tools were used to help create some in game assets”, but stresses that “in all such cases, the final product reflects our team’s craft and creative vision”.
Despite this, players claimed to have located a piece of AI-generated art, with one Reddit user sharing a piece of loading screen art with a number of tell-tale signs that it was wasn’t created by a human (such as deformed body parts).
“Of all the video games,” one Reddit user replied. “What drew me to Anno 1800 was its gorgeous artwork.”
Ubisoft has now confirmed that the piece of art in question was AI-generated, but says it was never supposed to be included in the final game, and was instead a placeholder designed to eventually be replaced by actual human-created art.
“This image was a placeholder asset that unintentionally slipped through our review process,” the publisher told Kotaku in a statement.
“The final image is attached here and will replace the current version of this artwork with the upcoming 1.3 patch.
“With Anno 117: Pax Romana being our most ambitious Anno yet, we’ve assembled the largest team of artists ever for the franchise and to help meet the project’s unique scope, they use AI tools for iterations, prototyping, and exploration. Every element players will experience in the final game reflects the team’s craft, artistry, and creative vision.”
The use of generative AI in video games is becoming an increasingly contentious topic, with some players believing that it shouldn’t be used in place of original creative ideas.
Last year Valve published new guidelines for developers looking to release games on Steam, introducing its new AI disclosure section where developers “need to describe how you are using AI in the development and execution of your game”.
Valve said it would use this disclosure as much as it can on Steam pages, allowing players to make informed purchasing decisions when it comes to content that may use AI.
