Thread by @1000_toasters

@Blizzard_Ent commissioned an AI "artist" to create pixel artworks for their game @PlayHearthstone and they might not even be aware of it. a thread.

@Blizzard_Ent @PlayHearthstone [1/x] first of all: i don't want to debate the use of AI in general here. but i think we can all agree that if you use AI to create artworks, and then try to make people believe that you drew these AI-generated works yourself - then you are a scammer.

@Blizzard_Ent @PlayHearthstone [2/x] so the artworks above will soon find their way into blizzard's game hearthstone. as you can see in the image, they were made by "Trey Fore". when you google this artist, at first you don't really find much at all, which is quite unusual for an alleged professional artist.

@Blizzard_Ent @PlayHearthstone [3/x] who is Trey Fore? well, what you do find is a github profile of them - Trey Fore from OKC ( = oklahoma city). you can also find an instagram profile with the same profile pic - t4 from oklahoma - and many artworks that exactly match the style of the hearthstone artworks.

@Blizzard_Ent @PlayHearthstone [4/x] there's a twitter profile with the same handle, @t4scotland . thus it is safe to assume that T. Fore is t4 on insta. now when you take a closer look at the artworks they are posting there, you'll soon notice that you can complete your entire AI bingo card within minutes.

@Blizzard_Ent @PlayHearthstone @T4Scotland [5/x] let's start with some absolute AI classics! why does the troll guy have four fingers on one hand and three fingers on the other? the other dude seems to be missing a finger too

@Blizzard_Ent @PlayHearthstone @T4Scotland [6/x] the hammer's hilt doesn't align with the rest. a human starts by making a sketch, a huge mistake like that couldn't even happen there. especially at the advanced skill level required to create artworks that look like this. AI however does exactly this mistake all the time

@Blizzard_Ent @PlayHearthstone @T4Scotland [7/x] one guy has buttons that attach the cape or the shoulder pieces, how did the axe get behind that button? no human would draw this! and where is the other guy's hand?

@Blizzard_Ent @PlayHearthstone @T4Scotland [8/x] these were just some of the most egregious mistakes. you can find tons of little details in a lot of their artworks that don't make sense, and things that a human would just not draw. you can even see from their profile which pics were created using the same AI prompts lol

@Blizzard_Ent @PlayHearthstone @T4Scotland [9/x] cherry on top, perfectly showing their actual pixel skills. an AI artwork. but they apparently drew the rest of the card themselves - it looks like what a beginner would draw. hard to imagine someone of their alleged skill level to be satisfied with a card looking like this

@Blizzard_Ent @PlayHearthstone @T4Scotland [10/x] saddest thing is - they even messed up the work they submitted to blizzard. i don't know anything about warcraft lore, but google shows me that malfurion has lightning pattern tattoos on his shoulders in all of the artworks. yet for some reason - they drew circles. sus?

@Blizzard_Ent @PlayHearthstone @T4Scotland [11/13] there are more giveaways. there is only a single process video of them creating an artwork, but it's really unusual and made in a way that looks extremely reverse-engineered. i could produce a process video like this within minutes for each of their artworks.

@Blizzard_Ent @PlayHearthstone @T4Scotland [12/13] also there's no past or history, no learning process, no earlier works, the insta acc just came to live over night with high quality art from day 1. plus, they pump these out almost daily, which would be an unimaginable amount of work for hand-made art of this quality.

@Blizzard_Ent @PlayHearthstone @T4Scotland [13/13] so, i don't know what the deal between them and blizzard was - but blizzard hired an AI artist.
thanks for reading until the end!