Chinese developer Rayark has allegedly fired entire art team in favor of AI

Artificial Intelligence has been making a lot of news in the last several months as tech investors have been promoting its creative capabilities. One developer, Rayark, seems to have taken these promotions seriously and has allegedly fired its entire art team to begin using AI to create art instead.

In a post that has been going viral on Reddit and Twitter, a user shares a Korean post in English, providing a summarized version of what the posts say. In short, Chinese and Japanese mobile developer Rayark is accused of having fired its entire art team and has attempted to replace them with AI. In the image, the user has pointed out some common AI mistakes that are shown in Rayark’s art.

Many of the errors that are pointed out are common issues in AI art like hands that have too many fingers or lines and shapes that don’t logically connect. While most people wouldn’t be able to tell at first glance, artists and creatives are pointing out the issues that seem more apparent on closer study.

In the comments of the post shared on Reddit, many fans of Rayark’s games are openly expressing their disappointment with the developer. One user who goes by doomkun23 says, “one of the most noticeable thing on their games are the extremely good art. and they will remove their artists for an AI? rip for the future of their games.”

Another user that goes by Thye2388 gives more detail about the timeline of when Rayark allegedly began to make the switch to AI art, saying it started with Deemo 2, although it was later deleted and touched up. Now, according to this user, Cytus 2 has started using AI art without retouching assets in the game.

They also state that the actual motivation behind this is the corporate greed of Rayark, who has chosen to prioritize saving on art costs in order to make more for the owners. Thye2388 and others in the comments state that those who don’t want to support Rayark should avoid giving the company money, which means staying away from the gacha mechanics and purchasing of music packs.

While AI has been shown to do incredible things in the last year, it’s more of an assisting tool rather than the replacement for creatives that some have hyped it up to be. Whether or not this will impact Rayark’s bottom line is yet to be seen, but it’s clear that it has made some of its fans unhappy.

Try Hard Guides has reached out to Rayark for comment but one was not immediately available at the time of publication on May 26.