Summary
Despite having been released well over four months ago,Call of Duty: Black Ops 6has finally disclosed its use of Generative AI for the purpose of creating in-game assets.As first spotted in the Steam subreddit, theofficial Steam page for Black Ops 6 includes the disclosure of AI use.
“Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in-game assets,” the disclosure reads.
According to Steam policies, prior to release, developers must disclose in the Content Survey whether their title has AI or not. Use of AI falls into two categories, either pre-generated or live-generated. In the time following Black Ops 6’s release,several accusations were levied against Treyarch, though a full acknowledgment of AI use had never been issued.
The Evidence Was Alarming
Most notably,a loading screen featuring an undead version of Santa Claus drew the ire of fans due to its perceived use of AI. Specifically, the figure had six fingers, a common error with AI imagery.
That wasn’t the only use, as multiple gamers found other instances in which AI was likely used to generate an asset, including another hand with more digits than normal.
A group of NSFW calling cardswere also alleged to have made use of AI. Most recently, another calling card, one seemingly stylized after Hatsune Miku, made the rounds for a perceived lack of thumbs.
At the time,I wrote about how the game was seemingly skirting by a required component of being on Steam. To that point,multiple games that were releasedin the same timeframedisclosed the usage of AI, whereas Black Ops 6 still hadn’t despite mounting evidence. Now, it appears that the issue has been rectified, though it begs wondering why things hadn’t been clarified earlier, and what, if any, punishment is levied for failing to do so.
