Balatro Developer Takes Stand Against AI-Generated Art in Game's Subreddit

LocalThunk forbids AI-generated art on the Balatro subreddit: 'I think it does real harm to artists of all kinds'

A recent kerfuffle over AI art forced the Balatro creator to get involved. A minor kerfuffle in the Balatro subreddit has led developer LocalThunk to weigh in on the topic of AI-generated art, and his position is clear: It hurts artists, and it's not welcome. As documented by RPS, the whole thing began when a now-former subreddit moderator named DrTankHead jumped into a thread questioning the presence of AI art in the subreddit. "We will not be banning AI art here, if it is properly claimed and tagged as such," DrTankHead wrote. "This has been done after discussion with the staff at PlayStack." The subsequent conversation went to some interesting places, including the discovery of a NSFW "Balatroromance" subreddit, of which DrTankHead is also a moderator. But there was also significant pushback against the apparent official approval of AI-generated art. As Reddit beef goes, it seems fairly mild to me, at least from what I've seen of it, but it didn't take long before LocalThunk felt the need to set the record straight. "A mod recently changed the flair in this subreddit for AI generated art making it seem like Playstack condones AI art," LocalThunk wrote in a separate thread. "This was not due to a direct order from Playstack (a Playstack representative told me this) but from an interpretation of a message about enforcing the rules of the subreddit. "Neither Playstack nor I condone AI 'art'. I don't use it in my game, I think it does real harm to artists of all kinds. The actions of this mod do not reflect how Playstack feels or how I feel on the topic. We have removed this moderator from the moderation team. We will not be allowing AI generated images on this subreddit from now on. We will make sure our rules and FAQ reflect this soon." Playstack communications director Wout van Halderen echoed that position in a reply, writing that "we do not support the use of AI art." In a subsequent post, Van Halderen said the subreddit rules originally forbid "unlabelled AI content," which could be taken as indicating that AI content was allowable as long as it was marked as such. That was not the case, however, and Van Halderen wrote that "this should have been discussed by the mod team before making sweeping statements about the interpretation of the rule." He also committed to working with subreddit moderators "to tighten up the rules and FAQ around this." Sure enough, the Balatro subreddit's rules, under the "No low-effort posts/no spam" section, now explicitly forbid "AI generated art or content." This won't be the last time we see this sort of disagreement play out. I heartily endorse LocalThunk's position on the matter, but I also acknowledge that AI-generated art is here and it's not going away. And while it remains deeply unpopular with a lot of gamers, some developers have opted to embrace generative AI, and some gamers don't seem too fussed about it. The good news for those who fall into the latter camp: AI-generated Balatro art has a new home. In a post on the Balatroromance subreddit (NSFW, remember), DrTankHead said they continue to support LocalThunk, PlayStack, and the rest of the Balatro mod team, "and understand why they've made the choices they made." They also announced a change to the Balatroromance rules to allow AI-generated art along with NSFW content.

Balatro developer responds to AI art drama, stating it "does real harm to artists of all kinds"

Balatro developer Locathunk has responded to a debate on AI art, stating "I think it does real harm to artists of all kinds". The debate raged on the Balatro subreddit after one of its moderators posted that AI art would not be banned in the community. Many fans believed both Localthunk and the game's publisher Playstack supported AI art. As such, Localthunk took to social media first to respond. "I learned about this a little bit earlier - this is not how I feel about AI 'art'," he wrote. "I normally wouldn't say something about the r/balatro community but this doesn't represent my beliefs nor do I believe it represents how Playstack feels about AI-generated imagery. I don't condone AI generated 'art'." Then, the developer took to reddit to address the situation once again. "A mod recently changed the flair in this subreddit for AI generated art making it seem like Playstack condones AI art," he wrote. "This was not due to a direct order from Playstack (a Playstack representative told me this) but from an interpretation of a message about enforcing the rules of the subreddit. "Neither Playstack nor I condone AI 'art'. I don't use it in my game, I think it does real harm to artists of all kinds. The actions of this mod do not reflect how Playstack feels or how I feel on the topic." Localthunk confirmed the moderator has been removed from the team and that AI-generated images will not be allowed on the subreddit. "Please remember to be excellent to each other - this mod doesn't deserve hatred. Please leave them alone," he concluded. "As LocalThunk points out, we do not support the use of AI art, but perhaps the rules around this should have been clearer so it could not be interpreted as 'acceptable'," wrote communications director Wout van Halderen, confirming the mod team will tighten the rules and FAQ on the topic. AI art is increasingly being used in game development, from Square Enix using the technology for Foamstars, to more recently Activision acknowledging the use of generative AI in Call of Duty (which likely resulted in that six-fingered zombie Santa). In an unrelated drama, last month the Balatro developer successfully appealed PEGI's decision to classify the game as PEGI 18 due to its poker theme. Localthunk previously commented on PEGI's perceived mishandling of the game's rating. A year after release, Balatro has been recategorised as suitable for players aged 12 and up.

Balatro creator hits back at AI art spread on the roguelike's subreddit: "I don't use it in my game, I think it does real harm to artists of all kinds"

Balatro creator Localthunk spent years working on his hit roguelike mostly on his lonesome, so it's maybe not surprising that he's now landed on the anti side of the AI art debate. To find the context for his quotes, however, we first need to backtrack to Redditor DrTankHead, who was a moderator for the game's main subreddit and the owner of r/balatromance, a page mainly dedicated to NSFW erotic joker fanart inspired by the game. (If that last cursed line wasn't a hint already, prepare for a very chronically online tale.) As reported on by Garbage Day and shared by RPS, discussions about AI art tags flooded onto the main subreddit - with many of them now dead and locked - but in one now-deleted thread, DrTankHead claimed that AI art wouldn't be banned in the community "after discussion with the staff at [publisher] Playstack," and said the sub wasn't the place to debate AI art in the first place. Countless other threads popped up after. Many a 'horny weirdo' insult was flung. And then Localthunk intervened in the mess. "A mod recently changed the flair in this subreddit for AI-generated art, making it seem like Playstack condones AI art," Localthunk wrote. "This was not due to a direct order from Playstack (A Playstack representative told me this) but from an interpretation of a message about enforcing the rules of the subreddit. Neither Playstack nor I condone AI 'art.' I don't use it in my game, I think it does real harm to artists of all kinds. The actions of this mod do not reflect how Playstack feels or how I feel on the topic. We have removed this moderator from the moderation team." The main Balatro subreddit now no longer allows users to post AI-generated images on the page, per its rules and FAQ section. Playstack also chimed in on the thread, declaring it doesn't "support the use of AI art, but perhaps the rules around this should have been clearer so it could not be interpreted as 'acceptable.'"

'It Does Real Harm to Artists of All Kinds' -- Balatro Dev Localthunk Steps In to Resolve AI Art Reddit Fiasco - IGN

Localthunk, the developer behind breakout roguelike poker game Balatro, has stepped in to resolve a bit of a scrum in the Balatro subreddit over a mod's statements on AI art. It's a bit of a wild story, so bear with me here, and thanks to Garbage Day and Rock Paper Shotgun for spotting all this. Essentially, it starts with DrTankHead, a now-former moderator of the Balatro subreddit and also current mod of a NSFW Balatro subreddit. The moderator had expressed no issue with AI art content, both on the NSFW and main Balatro subreddits. "We will not be banning AI art here, if it is properly claimed and tagged as such," the mod said in a post. "This has been done after discussion with the staff at Playstack." Localthunk posted a short reply on Bluesky, saying this is not how they, nor their publisher at Playstack, felt about AI generated imagery. Then, the developer went to the subreddit to make a full statement. "Neither Playstack nor I condone AI 'art'. I don't use it in my game, I think it does real harm to artists of all kinds. The actions of this mod do not reflect how Playstack feels or how I feel on the topic. We have removed this moderator from the moderation team," Localthunk said. "We will not be allowing AI generated images on this subreddit from now on. We will make sure our rules and FAQ reflect this soon." In a follow-up, Playstack's communications director noted that the rules around this "should have been clearer," as a rule calling for "no unlabeled AI content" could have been interpreted as allowing or supporting the content on the subreddit. The remaining mod team is planning on clarifying this language for the future. As for the original mod, DrTankHead posted in the aforementioned NSFW Balatro subreddit, confirming they've been removed as a mod of r/Balatro. They went on to say that it is "not their goal" to make the NSFW Balatro subreddit AI-centric, but they are considering a "day of the week" situation where "non-NSFW art that is made with AI can be posted." In response, one user replied: "Please just get off Reddit for a week or two." Generative AI is one of the hottest topics within the video game and entertainment industries, which have both suffered massive layoffs in recent years. It has thus far has drawn criticism from players and creators due to a mix of ethical issues, rights issues, and AI's struggles to produce content audiences actually enjoy. For instance, Keywords Studios attempted to create an experimental game internally using entirely AI. The game failed, with Keywords citing to investors that AI was "unable to replace talent." That hasn't stopped tech companies going all in on AI, though. EA said in September that AI was "the very core" of its business, and more recently Capcom said it was experimenting with generative AI to create the "hundreds of thousands" of ideas needed for in-game environments. Activision recently admitted using generative AI for some Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 assets amid a backlash to an "AI slop" zombie Santa loading screen.

The developer of Balatro says no to AI-generated art after a conflict in a game subreddit - Softonic

That doesn't change the fact that a certain subsector of that same audience still thinks that AI is great A recent debate in the Balatro subreddit has led developer LocalThunk to express his stance regarding art generated by artificial intelligence, arguing that this type of art harms artists and is unwelcome in the community. This conflict began after an intervention by former moderator DrTankHead, who stated that the subreddit would not ban AI-generated art as long as it was properly labeled. However, the community's response was notable, showing a strong disagreement with the apparent acceptance of AI-generated art. LocalThunk, in an attempt to clarify the situation, emphasized that both he and Playstack, the company behind Balatro, do not support the use of this technology in their projects. "I do not use AI in my game, I believe it harms artists of all kinds," expressed LocalThunk. Following these statements, a moderator was removed from their position due to their previous comments about AI. In addition, Wout van Halderen, director of communications at Playstack, reaffirmed that the company does not condone the use of AI-generated art and that the subreddit rules would be adjusted accordingly. In fact, the new rules explicitly prohibit any AI-generated content, emphasizing the community's commitment to protecting artists. Despite the opposition from LocalThunk and Playstack to AI-generated art, there is a trend of developers and players who are more open to its use. In a twist, the subreddit Balatroromance, known for containing NSFW content, has announced that it will allow AI-generated art, maintaining its support for LocalThunk and the Balatro moderation team.