The Pokémon Company holds regular illustration contests for fans to submit their artwork to possibly be used as official art for Pokémon trading cards , more recently made available to artists in the U.S. However, the company’s 2024 competition has had a new, not-so-fun wrinkle of controversy as AI-generated art has weaseled its way into the top 300 entries, and fans are not too happy that it passed through the company’s vetting process undetected.
Now, the company has put out a statement that it’s disqualifying entries that violate its contest rules. It all began on June 14 when The Pokémon Company posted the top 300 entries . Fans took notice of what appeared to be one AI-using participant using multiple names to submit more pieces than the three-submission limit.
Can we talk about how these entries are clearly all from the same person breaking the 3 submissions limit, and happen to be in a very “AI-adjacent” style? https://t.co/Nzy6Qjs4OS pic.twitter.
com/UxQhu2khgS — 🕸 Rachel 🕷 Briggs 🕸 (@RacieBeep) June 14, 2024 As word spread, fans started making a ruckus online, raking the alleged AI art over the coals while criticizing The Pokémon Company for letting it get into the top 300, taking up spots from real artists who also entered the contest. the eevee gaining totally new parts to its design and pikachu’s reflection being a completely differently proportioned style to the main drawing are the funniest giveaways pic.twitter.
com/V3efz25E7u — L.