- Microsoft had to deal with a controversial post on the Xbox profile at the end of the year
- He used an image most likely generated by AI to promote independent video game creators
- He did not mention the fact anywhere and removed the post from the X network after criticism
At the very end of 2023, Microsoft, specifically its Xbox video game division, made a real embarrassment. It used an image that looks like it was created by artificial intelligence to promote indie game titles. Not only did the company not mark it in any way, it didn’t even put much effort into its selection and thus caused shame to itself and to the developers it wanted to support in this way.
Xbox stepped aside
The indie video game segment—that is, games made by indie creators with an order of magnitude lower budget than the big developers—benefits from every bit of support it gets from gamers, or better yet, from big publishing studios. They can take selected indie titles under their wing and offer them to a wide mass of players, both on PC and consoles.
Don’t overlook
Will this be a case of gigantic proportions? The New York Times is suing both OpenAI and Microsoft
The Steam platform promotes independent games, but also Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox, giant players in the game console field. However, the latter will not take his latest promotion of games from small developers for granted – he received unprecedented criticism for it on social networks.
The official @ID_Xbox profile, focusing on indie games on the Xbox console, shared a post on December 28th in the spirit of winter fun. “A walk through the realms of India’s dreams. What was your favorite indie game of 2023?” reads the post, which is accompanied by a Christmas-themed image.
So it seems @ID_Xbox deleted their tweet using AI art. Thankfully I still have a screenshot of the tweet below.
Now to wait for their apology… pic.twitter.com/OHRam2UzbB
— Warwick (no longer active. find me on bsky etc) (@WarwickOnX) December 28, 2023
It immediately became the target of criticism, as fans began to point out in unison that it was most likely graphics generated by artificial intelligence. This is indicated by disjointed black lines in several places, bizarre faces of individual characters and also a strange Xbox logo. Either the image is actually generated by an AI tool, or the paid designer did a very poor job.
Developer support or artificial intelligence?
We will no longer know the truth, the ID@Xbox profile could not take the criticism and deleted its post with the picture. Meanwhile, the Internet has split into two camps. Some who openly criticize Microsoft, and others who see nothing wrong with the picture.
The truth is somewhere in the middle. There is certainly no problem in the fact that Xbox used an image generated by artificial intelligence for its social networks, after all Microsoft is one of the biggest investors in generative AI and it is easy that such a company will use its own AI tools, perhaps even to promote its services and products .
On the other hand, however, there is the fact that the image has a really low-quality impression (is that the intention?) and is not marked in any way. Ironically, but quite aptly, the use of an AI tool to promote independent developers was glossed by one of the critics on the X network: “Nothing says you care about the work of indie creators more than using AI to promote them.”
Author of the article
Jakub Fischer
Journalist, fan of modern technology, summer months and Asian food. I like Lynch movies, Pollock paintings, french house and Arsenal football club. In my spare time, I play PlayStation and go jogging.
2024-01-04 08:00:00
#Shame #age #Xbox #caught #fire #AIgenerated #image
