Pokémon Disqualifies Contestants Over AI Art Allegations
The Pokémon Company has disqualified multiple entries from its 2024 Pokémon Trading Card Game Illustration Contest due to allegations of participants using artificial intelligence (AI) to create their submissions. The contest, which offers a $5,000 prize and the opportunity to have the winning art depicted on a real card, had announced its top 300 entries on June 14. However, numerous online observers pointed out that some images appeared to be AI-generated.
The Pokémon Company confirmed that select entrants from the top 300 finalists had violated official contest rules, leading to their disqualification. Although the company did not specifically mention AI, it banned such submissions and stated that additional artists who had not initially made the cut would be added to the final 300 participants. This decision follows a broader controversy surrounding AI in the art community, where artists have raised concerns about their work being used to train AI systems without permission.
