Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Faces Backlash Over Extensive AI-Generated Art Assets

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 appears to feature AI-generated art assets

By all appearances, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 features a not insignificant amount of AI-generated art, Kotaku reports. The game's over 680 Calling Cards -- collectible backgrounds earned through in-game achievements or purchases -- appear to be the main offenders, featuring art that imitates the knockoff animation style of ChatGPT. While it's hard to authoritatively claim that Studio Ghibli-inspired illustrations are a smoking gun, the Calling Cards players have spotted do at the very least seem unpolished for a splashy $70 game. Activision has also confirmed that the game's development team used "generative AI tools to help develop some in-game assets" in a disclosure on the Black Ops 7 Steam page, which certainly won't dissuade anyone's suspicions. In a statement to Kotaku, Activision also didn't deny the possibility, noting that AI was one of several "digital tools" it used "to empower and support our teams to create the best gaming experiences possible for our players." Using AI-generated art or at least AI art edited by a human could have saved Activision and developer Treyarch money during development. But it's also possible these in-game rewards look weird because they were made in the rush to get the game out the door. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has the honor of being the first in the franchise to launch on Xbox Game Pass, one way Microsoft hopes to justify the subscription's recent price hike. That the game features AI-generated assets might dampen some player's excitement, but Black Ops 7's campaign seems like the more pressing issue. It requires an internet connection to run because it was designed to be played in a "squad" of four, but even if you play with in-game bots, you still can't pause the game.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 under fire for using what sure looks like AI-generated Studio Ghibli-style calling card art

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is out today, and if you thought we were going to make it through the day without an AI-generated art scandal, I am here to tell you, hoo boy, you're living in the wrong year. I can't say with 100% certainty that there is generative AI art in Black Ops 7, but an awful lot of fans sure think there is, and with good reason. Images of what people believe to be AI-generated art assets have been appearing all over social media and Reddit, with complaints focusing primarily on calling card images because of their overt Studio Ghibli styling. AI-generated Ghibli images have been all the rage since earlier this year: In March, for instance, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman swapped his profile picture on X for a Ghibli-style portrait that remains there to this day, despite Japan's largest manga publisher recently accusing OpenAI of "trampling on the dignity of artists" with its Sora 2 video app. And, yeah, there's no denying that's pretty much exactly what these calling card images are, and shots are being fired. Not to break immersion but when I came up with Tee's boss i had them be a call of duty fan cause I love very stupid details like that. So it would make sense for me to get Black ops 7 and stream it but how can i pay 70 bucks for such AI slop. I dropped Fragpunk for the same reason. Shit sucks -- @teetheclown.bsky.social ( @teetheclown.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-11-14T21:02:17.273Z Personally, my first question here would be, why the hell would you use Ghibli-style images in a Call of Duty game? It makes no sense. Fallout gets away with that kind of stylistic mash-up because it's thematically appropriate, and also Fallout has been doing it forever. But Black Ops? I'm not a fan of the series but I don't recall this sort of visual discord in previous entries. Those of you who can remember back to last year will know that isn't the first time Activision has used generative AI to make in-game assets: They're present in Black Ops 6 (and Modern Warfare 3) as well. But in that case, the visuals were relatively normal and it took months of suspicion and allegations before Activision copped to it. The Black Ops 7 calling card images stand in sharp contrast to those images, though, which just sort of sucked (and had bad fingers), and the feeling among some is that by using the popular Ghibli style, Activision is displaying a complete indifference to the potential for backlash. Where previously it might have taken a softer, more subtle approach to generative AI, this time around it's just rubbing people's faces in it. Activision makes no secret of the fact that it uses AI, although as is the way with massive corporations, specifics are in short supply. The Black Ops 7 Steam page carries an obligatory AI generated content disclosure: "Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in game assets." That's not much to go on, and unfortunately Activision wasn't a whole lot more helpful in a statement provided to PC Gamer. "Like so many around the world, we use a variety of digital tools, including AI tools, to empower and support our teams to create the best gaming experiences possible for our players," Activision said. "Our creative process continues to be led by the talented individuals in our studios." It's an empty bit of "people first!" noise that could just as easily refer to someone punching prompts into the plagiarism machine as actual artists creating actual art. Neither does it address the very straightforward question of, are these specific images gen-AI? The fact is, I don't know for certain, but given the preponderance of evidence I'm going to assume that, yeah, they probably are. For the record, I have done my best to bully Activision into providing more specifics on the calling card images. I don't expect it'll relent, but I'll update this story if it does.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 players call out "awful" apparent use of generative AI for in-game calling cards

With the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, eager fans have criticised Activision for its in-game calling cards seemingly created using generative AI. The calling cards in question belong to the 'Jack of All Trades' campaign challenges, as well as two specific calling cards in the 'Embrace the Nightmare' campaign endgame challenges. These cards appear, in the eyes of members of the Call of Duty community, similar to AI Studio Ghibli recreations which have been circulating online for the past few months. Activision has declared AI was used during the development of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 on the game's Steam page. The mandatory disclaimer notes: "Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in game assets." While the disclaimer does not specify which assets have been made using AI, players are speculating these calling cards are a clear example. These calling cards have circulated online, both on social media as well as the game's Reddit page. The reaction is mixed, with some enraged at the apparent use of AI in a full price video game. Take user Commercial_Pirate501, who wrote: "It cost 96 dollars in my country and more than 130 dollars for vault edition lol. I personally enjoy this game, but this is [a] ridiculous amount of money for a game with tons of AI generated content." Another user on Reddit, Loqh9 summerised their thoughts more succinctly, writing: "Damn that's awful fuck this". Alternatively, others are uncaring of possible AI use. For example you have M3Festof1l on X, who commented: "This looks normal. I don't give a shit who or what created the image as long as it looks normal." These are of course just a few opinions in what is a wider debate both on AI use in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and game development as a whole. Eurogamer has reached out to Activision to determine whether these calling cards and others were created using generative AI.

Activision Confirms COD: Black Ops 7 Contains AI Generated Slop

Stop me if you've heard this one before: The latest Call of Duty game seems to contain AI-generated art that doesn't look very good, and people aren't happy about it. This time, it's the newly released Black Ops 7. On November 14, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launched across consoles and PC. And within a few hours, players online were sharing screenshots of artwork within the game that they believe is AI-generated slop. And it's hard not to agree. Looking at some of this artwork, including in-game player banners, I notice the telltale signs of AI imagery, including at least one cartoon character that appears to have six fingers. Eyelines also don't match up, and some objects seem vaguely defined. And almost all of it just looks really bland. Keep in mind, these are rewards you get for completing challenges, which makes it even more depressing; gee, thanks, some machine-vomited "art." Other players have shared screenshots of what looks like AI-generated artwork within Black Ops 7's campaign, which this year is online-only and designed around multiplayer. Of course, we can't know for sure which pieces of art in the latest Call of Duty were created by humans, which were generated by a machine, and which are a combo, with humans touching up crappy generated imagery. But we do know for a fact that Black Ops 7 has AI art in it, as confirmed by the game's Steam store page: "Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in-game assets." This is the same disclaimer found on Black Ops 6's store page, which was added in February. Kotaku has contacted Activision about the AI art in Black Ops 7 and was sent this statement: “Like so many around the world, we use a variety of digital tools, including AI tools, to empower and support our teams to create the best gaming experiences possible for our players. Our creative process continues to be led by the talented individuals in our studios.†If that sounds familiar, it's because this is similar to what Activision and Treyarch said about Black Ops 6 earlier this year, following months of players accusing the devs of using AI slop. In an interview with IGN in August, Treyarch associate creative director Miles Leslie talked about using AI art in Black Ops 7. The developer claimed that "everything that goes into the game is touched by the team a hundred percent," but did admit that AI tools are used to "help." As to why some clearly AI-generated art that was seemingly not fixed up by a human slipped into Black Ops 6, Leslie told IGN it was an "accident." "That was never the intention," said Leslie. "We've come out and been very clear that we use these as tools to help the team, but they do not replace any of the fantastic team members we have that are doing the final touches and building that content to put it in the game. So everything you play: human-created and touched. AI tools in the world we live in: it's how do we streamline it? That's really the goal. Not replace, but streamline.†And with players discovering bland AI-generated images in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Activision openly confirming it and embracing it, it seems this is just how it works now, I guess.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Is Out, And It's Immediately Being Called Out For Being Filled With AI Slop

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is officially out on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. If you pre-loaded the game, you can jump in right now and start your journey with the latest release in the annual shooter mega-franchise, seeing everything this year's entry has to offer. Which, players have immediately noticed, also includes a slew of AI-generated slop used for in-game rewards. This isn't the first time we've seen Activision use generative AI for assets within Call of Duty. It did so in 2023 for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and in 2024 for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, with both instances facing severe backlash from players. So we can't really be surprised that there's AI slop stuffed into Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, but what is surprising is just how much of it fills the game. User Kumesicles on X (formerly Twitter) shared an image of the in-game calling card rewards that all feature AI-generated assets, with their post becoming the lightning rod that is drawing plenty of attention, but it's not the only example of AI assets in the game. Activision also used AI-generated assets within the campaign, and for the prestige icons that players grind hours to attain. It's also likely that there are more AI assets to be found, though at the time of this writing and considering that the game only released today, these examples are the ones that have caught players' eyes and ire the most. The replies to Kumesicles' post are a quick look at how players feel about the game being stuffed with AI slop for these assets, even if they are a small part of the game. Another look is the game's Steam page, where several player reviews are also criticizing the use of AI slop, on top of other issues with the game, like how the campaign cannot be paused, is always online, and will kick you from a level if you go AFK, forcing you to restart it. At some point, you really have to wonder what you're paying for here. Cosmetic changes for your character and your profile in games make good goals for players to reach and good microtransactions because they were, historically, carefully crafted by artists to look cool, so that when you saw it, you wanted to grind the hours it would take to earn those small calling cards and profile pins, to have them on your profile as a badge of your own gaming prowess. Of course, that's not the whole Call of Duty experience, but having a cool-looking profile that flashes when you get the winning kill of a match or make the best play in a round is an ingrained aspect of the quintessential Call of Duty experience. Why should you be getting less than what you got in previous games? It's not like Activision can't pay artists to make something that players might actually want to have on their profiles. It may be a small element of the game, but it's a big showcase of just how much Activision does not care about getting the details right. So long as Call of Duty remains the commercial juggernaut it's been for over a decade, Activision will continue to degrade its quality to see how much it can get away with ripping players off. Even if Activision backtracks and replaces these assets with art actually made by humans, we have no reason not to expect the same rigamarole next year, likely even more egregious than what we're seeing now.

Activision Responds to Complaints of AI-Generated Assets in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 - IGN

"Like so many around the world, we use a variety of digital tools, including AI tools." Activision has issued a statement in response to player outcry regarding the seeming use of generative AI art assets in a number of areas of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Players have been taking to social media today to complain about images they believe to be AI-generated across the game, primarily focusing on calling card images that they claim appear to use Studio Ghibli styling, following a trend of AI-Ghibli images from earlier this year. In response to this outcry, Activision has issued a statement to a number of outlets, including PC Gamer, that acknowledges the issue...sort of: "Like so many around the world, we use a variety of digital tools, including AI tools, to empower and support our teams to create the best gaming experiences possible for our players. Our creative process continues to be led by the talented individuals in our studios." It's worth pointing out that the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Steam page also includes the following disclaimer: "Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in game assets." Not exactly descriptive! This isn't the first time Call of Duty has come under fire for this, either. This exact scenario played out back in February, when Activision admitted that it had used generative AI in the development of Black Ops 6, including in a zombie Santa loading screen that angry fans referred to as "AI slop." Then, just this past August, Black Ops 7 associate creative director Miles Leslie clarified the team's stance on the technology further: "We live in a world now, where there are AI tools. I think our official statement we said last year, around Black Ops 6, is that everything that goes into the game is touched by the team a hundred percent. We have generative AI tools to help us, but none of that goes in-game. "And then you're going to say, 'Yeah, but it has.' I'll say it has by accident. And that was never the intention. We've come out and been very clear that we use these as tools to help the team, but they do not replace any of the fantastic team members we have that are doing the final touches and building that content to put it in the game. "So everything you play: human-created and touched. AI tools in the world we live in: it's how do we streamline it? That's really the goal. Not replace, but streamline." In response, IGN asked why the zombie Santa and other generative AI images hadn't been removed from the game yet, to which Leslie said that was not his department, and that "the team is actively looking at that stuff." It is unclear if, why, or how Activision's stance on this has changed over time. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is out now. We've given the campaign a try and aren't totally crazy about it, with our reviewer saying it's " a wild one thanks to the scope of its ambition, but the big swings it takes don't always land, leaving it an uneven step down from last year."