"If we're publishing the game, 'no f***ing AI assets'": CEO of Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse bans gen AI art and calls it "cancerous"

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"We recommend they don't use any gen AI anywhere in the process"

Manor Lords bug
(Image credit: Hooded Horse/Cl3m_F4nd4ng0)

Firmly countering the full-throated endorsements of generative AI made by large companies like EA and Ubisoft, the CEO of markedly smaller publisher Hooded Horse, a strategy and simulation specialist known by many for city builder hit Manor Lords, says it's begun explicitly banning gen AI art in contracts.

Where many gaming executives are eager to preach the immense potential of AI tools and output, CEO Tim Bender, speaking with Kotaku, laments that, "honestly, all this thing has done is made our lives more difficult."

"I fucking hate gen AI art and it has made my life more difficult in many ways…suddenly it infests shit in a way it shouldn't," Bender says. "It is now written into our contracts if we're publishing the game, 'no fucking AI assets.'"

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

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