Activision has responded after Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was broadly accused of using AI-generated artwork – colloquially branded as ‘AI Slop’ – for things like player calling cards, posters, Prestige icons and more. Crucially, Activision admitted to the use of AI tools and did nothing to refute any of the specific claims over where it has been used.
In a statement to Xbox Era, Activision said, “Like so many around the world, we use a variety of digital tools, including AI tools, to empower and support our teams to create the best gaming experiences possible for our players. Our creative process continues to be led by the talented individuals in our studios.” They make a slight distinction to Insider Gaming, adding “Our creative process continues to be led by the talented individuals in our studios.”
This falls in line with the boilerplate disclosure on Steam that reads, “Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in game assets.
So, basically, yes, Activision’s studios have been using AI to generate these incidental cosmetic items, and this goes hand-in-hand with some very generic, trend-following or art homages that the teams have made for many of these unlockables in the past.
One of the likeliest areas for AI slop that has been highlighted were the player calling cards that you can earn from completing certain mission goals and objective stats. A bunch of them have lifted a chunky cartoon art style that’s seemingly inspired by Studio Ghibli and anime art in general, completely at odds with the sci-fi war shooter that you’re earning them in. Death From Above shows a dragon burning the Icarus-like wings off someone’s back, while Reeled In shows villagers catching a fish that’s eaten a knight’s helmet.
(via @kumesicles)
Another area is the icons that have been created for the various Prestige levels that you can work through by reseting online progress.
(via FRVR)
The whole saga really boils down to the use of AI generation in video game development to replace the work of people, and this has become one of the most controversial points that plague games in the last couple years as examples of AI-generated work seep through to finished games, whether intended or not. Anno 117: Pax Romana, for example, had a piece of AI-generated art in the full release, where the intended use was for a scene to be generated and then re-drawn or touched up by humans to correct weird looking hands, faces and other areas. This obviously means than an artist is able to produce more finished works, and by extension, then the studio maybe needs fewer artists for a project than they would have 5 or 10 years ago. Similarly, Embark Studios, the team behind ARC Raiders and The Finals, has been created AI voice banks by paying actors for their exclusive rights and uses, which seems ethical on the surface, but it’s not clear if the studio pays ongoing royalties for new lines that they need to generate – this is now the SAG-AFTRA union expectation in the US.
And this really blurs the lines between what is and isn’t AI-generated, to me. Are the calling cards and emblems in Black Ops 7 AI generated? Probably. Has a human hand then been used to touch up errors and oddities? Probably. Is the end product consistent with previous Call of Duty games? Definitely.
Skipping back to 2015’s Black Ops 3 (via Fandom), and the masses of calling cards in this game are, to be uncharitable, human artist slop. Where Black Ops 7 has Studio Ghibli (amongst many other themes), Black Ops 3 has steampunk toons, a whole riff on Conan the Barbarian, a whole bunch that could be colour-flipped panels from Watchmen (both the super hero stuff and the pirate side story).
That’s not to say that replacing human work with AI-generated work is acceptable in any case, but these do all feel pretty minimal effort. Activision and Microsoft make enough from Call of Duty that we should get the finest human artist slop in all the lands, but that’s not what it feels like we’re getting.
Sources: Insider Gaming, Xbox Era, FRVR
