AI Controversy Rocks Street Fighter 6 Art Contest, Leading to Disqualification

Street Fighter 6 art contest rocked by AI controversy, disqualification issued

Controversy has rocked a recent Street Fighter 6 art contest, following accusations that one of the winning entries was made using AI. Capcom has since disqualified the piece in question, pointing to a rule that explicitly bans AI contributions. The art piece in question was created by user Lilithascends on X (formerly known as Twitter), who has since deleted their social media accounts following public accusations for other users. In response to these events, Capcom released the following statement on social media and the art contest website: "We want to extend a big thanks to everyone who participated in the latest Street Fighter Art Contest New Challenger Edition. Unfortunately, we have determined that one of the winning entries violated contest rules, specifically Section 5 pertaining to: Entry Submission and Design Requirements. It's worth noting that the section mentioned above - Entry Submission and Design Requirements - outright prohibits the use of AI, and states: "The design must be the Entrant's original creative work which has not been previously published or entered into other competitions." The statement from Capcom continues: "After careful review and discussion, we have decided to disqualify the entry in question. "Please note that the entry in question will remain available for voting in the Battle Hub until the end of the voting period. We want to thank those who participated in voting for the entry in question. While the entry in question has been disqualified, we will provide a replacement illustration for the featured character at a later date." Their art piece was of Kimberly, depicted colourfully in a street-art style. This piece, as well as a number of other community submissions, were eligible for a community vote on which of the chosen pieces would make it into Street Fighter 6's third season. These art contests have been an ongoing community event that has taken place since the launch of Street Fighter 6. Social media users who took a look back at the accused artist's prior works, including fellow artist chupabaraa, found prior art pieces that raised red flags for those levying accusations at Lilithascends, including stark similarities to the work of other artists. Is there a silver lining to these shenanigans? Well, one lucky person will have their work taking up the now-empty spot in the community art contest, which is nice. We've also seen beloved FGC artist Hungry Clicker put out their own Kimberly portrait in response, which is stunning. Also, for the artists battling to win this and future Street Fighter 6 art contests, it's surely a warm feeling to know Capcom is willing to stand firm against AI use.

AI Accusations Plunge Street Fighter 6 Fan Art Contest Into Chaos

Street Fighter 6 is holding an art competition for fans, with the winners' work set to be featured in the fighting game itself as New Challenger screens. These are art pieces that show up during online matches when you are challenged by another player, and feature some sick art of their chosen fighter. It's a pretty neat opportunity, but in the era of generative AI, companies have to be more vigilant than ever about plagiarized or generated art for these kinds of events. Pokémon dealt with it last year when AI illustrations were submitted as part of its TCG art contest. Now, Street Fighter fans are suspicious of one of the finalists in its current competition, and the person who submitted the piece in question has deleted their social media. Capcom's second Street Fighter 6 art contest began back in June, with the company telling fans to submit their art on X (formerly Twitter) with the hashtag #SF6ArtContest2 in order to have it considered. The official contest rules outlined regulations, such as only including characters currently playable in the game (so not those featured in the upcoming third season pass, for example). One of the rules prohibits the use of AI-generated art, but now that Capcom has revealed the 26 finalists that will be implemented in Street Fighter 6, fans are suspicious of one finalist in particular. One piece depicting the spray-painting ninja Kimberly has raised more than a few eyebrows in the Street Fighter community. An X account, @lilithascends, submitted the piece, as well as two other submissions featuring Akuma and Cammy. Once the Kimberly art was chosen as a finalist for the contest, other artists took note of some irregularities that made them suspect it was an AI-generated piece, and pointed out that their other submissions appeared to be lifted or traced from other sources as well. Artists on X like @hoodratt20xx and @Galena_Bismon pointed out several oddities in the Kimberly illustration that were signs of potential generative AI use. All of this, along with some anecdotal strangeness like their X account's creation seemingly coinciding with the beginning of the Street Fighter contest, made @lilithascends' submissions all the more suspect. Normally, this is where we'd reach out for comment, but both the X and Instagram accounts under the name @lilithascends were deleted almost immediately after this hoopla started. While none of this ultimately "proves" that AI was used in making this art, it does seem like cause for Capcom to look into it further. Right now, the contest has a winning submission for each of the 26 playable characters, and if this piece is AI-generated, that means it would have broken the contest's rules, and another piece of Kimberly art could still be added to the game. We've reached out to Capcom for comment and will update the story if we hear back.