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[1]
The First Descendant is using AI ads with weird digital clones of actual streamers
If you've scrolled past an ad on TikTok for Nexon's gooner-looter-shooter The First Descendant you might not have noticed it was made by AI. But if you watch one of them for more than a second, you'll probably figure it out. Each one features an AI streamer rambling about the new boss Wall Crasher and maybe the Nier: Automata crossover while doing an odd headbob that I assume is supposed to make their rubber faces look more excited and emphatic. (The way one of them pronounces "Automata" sounds ridiculous, but has probably been trained on real people struggling to say it.) Instead of hiring proper influencers, these ads have AI imitations of actual streamers like DanieltheDemon pretending to be as excited about The First Descendant as he is about Warframe. It's not a subtle similarity either, but clearly an AI that's been trained on an actual person. Because ads on TikTok are unlisted, you won't see these on Nexon's official channel, but they have continued being shown to users even after a backlash began on the official subreddit. We've seen high-end fashion magazines resort to using an AI-generated model because apparently it's too much hassle to find an attractive blonde woman somewhere in the world of modeling, but this feels like a real low. There are plenty of regular streamers out there you could hire to cut a promo for your mid-tier shlooter. This seems more like the thing you create because management has paid for a bunch of AI tools after reading how essential they are on LinkedIn and keeps insisting you find a use for them.
[2]
The First Descendant is using bizarre AI ads, at least one of which appears to be a clone of a real content creator
The First Descendant developer/publisher Nexon has been accused of using a series of "embarrassing" AI-generated TikTok advertisements, at least one of which is alleged to have imitated a real content creator. As collated by u/iHardlyTriHard on Reddit by scrolling on their For You Page for just 15 minutes, they came across four ads, along with another two "low effort ads that aren't specifically AI". As the OP points out, the issue isn't the use of generative AI in and of itself, but the fact that at least one ad uses the likeness of DanieltheDemon - and we don't yet know if it was with their consent or not. The AI ads are worse than you think byu/iHardlyTriHard inTheFirstDescendant "It's really a kick in the teeth to TFD content creators for them to be using AI for ads like this instead of actual content creators, especially since Nexon Creators has over 8.8k people signed up to it," the post author explained. "If I saw these ads before playing the game, I'd assume the game was 1) fake, 2) some sort of scam, virus, or phishing attempt," said one player. Some players report that the team behind The First Descendant's TikTok account are "deleting comments" from people who call the ads out, and "they delete and re-upload the AI ads whenever they get too much backlash in the comments". At the time of writing, Nexon has not publicly commented on feedback from players about the advertisements. Eurogamer has reached out for comment and will confirm if/when we hear back. At the end of July, players similiarly hit out at The Alters developer 11 Bit Studios after AI prompts were discovered in both subtitles and flavour text in the game, intimating routine use of large language models (LLMs) without disclosure. 11 Bit Studios later insisted the controversial elements discovered by players were either "temporary" assets "never intended to be part of the final release" or used in a "very limited manner".
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Nexon under fire for using AI generated streamers to promote The First Descendant
TL;DR: Nexon's free-to-play looter-shooter The First Descendant recently launched AI-generated digital clone ads, mimicking real streamers with unnatural speech and expressions. This controversial marketing approach sparked community backlash for its inauthenticity and ethical concerns, highlighting risks of using AI influencers over real creators in game promotion. If you've been scrolling through TikTok recently and have come across an ad for Nexon's free-to-play looter-shooter The First Descendant, which has just received another content update, you might have noticed something a little strange. The streamers or influencers advertising the game's latest content look and sound weird because they're AI-generated digital clones, with some modeled after real-world creators. From the mouth movements to weird pronunciation of words to fake excitement over The First Descendant's updated combat and new zone to explore, this is one of those examples of AI-generated content that looks immediately off because it aims to create realistically looking humans that can believably emote. And yes, as soon as people started spotting these ads (check out the cringe-inducing compilation above for a taste), the community backlash has made its way to the The First Descendant subreddit. "Embarrassing" and "it looks like a scam" are just the beginning. The biggest complaint is the most obvious one. For a live service game, a shooter that has an audience and creators that cover the game (or have covered it in the past), using fake AI digital humans pretending to be gamers and streamers instead of real people is questionable. Not only that, but one of the cringy digital humans used for one of the ads looks to be modeled or trained to look and sound exactly like real-world creator DanieltheDemon. Although the videos are unlisted and not tied to Nexon or The First Descendant's official social media accounts, this raises the very real prospect that game developers and publishers will be leveraging AI tools and digital humans to promote titles as opposed to spending money on the real thing. And when the result is, well, not as bad as this, it might even go unnoticed.
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The First Descendant's Awful AI TikTok Ads Somehow Aren't As Bad As The Excuses
Publisher Nexon appears to be trying to lay the blame with TikTok Looter-shooter The First Descendant came under fire over the weekend for some TikTok ads featuring incredibly terrible AI fakes of real streamers endorsing the game. But as grimly bad as the ads might be, publisher Nexon's excuses are somehow even worse. The First Descendant is a free-to-play shooter that's been around since June, 2024, entirely failing to set the world ablaze ever since. About as 6/10 as a game can be, it's continued chugging along, mostly without much attention, that is until a bunch of TikTok ads appeared over the weekend that contained some excruciatingly obvious AI bullshit. Uncomfortable AI voices don't quite match the clumsy lip-syncing of nearly human streamers, as they passionately endorse the middling looter-shooter with streams of superlatives. Worse, at least one of the videos contains the likeness of a real streamer, who clearly wasn't choosing to endorse the game. Reddit user iHardlyTriHard compiled the ads into one video: OK, so they're laughably bad, while simultaneously chillingly close to good. It's hard to watch these and not only think about where this tech will be in a couple of years, how all the obvious signs of fakery will likely be ironed out with the rapid improvements arriving from the competing tech companies. But given just how bad they are, the other question is: how? How on Earth did these come to be released as approved commercials for The First Descendant, and why did developer/publisher Nexon Games ever think they'd get away with it? It's so much stupider than you could guess. "We would like to inform you of certain irregularities identified in the operation of our TikTok Creative Challenge for creators," said Nexon on X this morning, August 18. "As a part of our marketing campaign for Season 3: Breakthrough, we recently ran a Creative Challenge program for TikTok creators, which allows creators to voluntarily submit their content to be used as advertising materials." It's already amazing. The company ran a competition where the prize was you got to make a commercial for a game. That link, by the way, goes to a generic post about TikTok's so-called "creative" challenge from 2023, seemingly nothing to do with this incident. The statement, while obviously trying to lay some blame for the situation at TikTok's feet by suggesting it was a failure of the app's verification for "copyright violations" (a mystifying suggestion), doesn't explain how such obviously AI-faked content was ever distributed as official advertising for the game. It seems to leave two possible scenarios: 1) The AI ads were screened and approved by Nexon, and released as advertising materials, despite so obviously being fraudulent AI. 2) Nexon didn't screen the ads promoting its game at all before releasing them, leaving it all to TikTok. Neither is a good scenario for Nexon, at all. We've contacted the company to ask what happened, and why, and will update should we receive a response.
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The First Descendant's under fire for using uncanny AI ads claiming it's "the world's most popular shooter RPG," and at least one of them seems to imitate an actual streamer
Nier Automata's 2B isn't the only artificial intelligence now associated with looter shooter The First Descendant, which is being accused of advertising the game via AI-generated ads mimicking real people. Redditor iHardlyTriHard compiled four of these seemingly AI-generated TikTok clips that they say took them 15 minutes of scrolling to find, along with two others that appear to only use AI voice over. Most of the tell-tale signs are very obvious, too, like the wonky lip sync and uncanny voices. "It's really a kick in the teeth to [The First Descendant] content creators for them to be using AI for ads like this instead of actual content creators, especially since Nexon Creators has over 8.8k people signed up to it," the post added. I'll let you decide the ethics of promoting a game using the glowing praise of literally fake people that declare The First Descendant is "one of the world's most popular shooter RPGs," but the game's also been under fire because one of the clips seemingly clones content creator DanieltheDemon. It's unclear if he was involved with the ads in any way, though. (Good spot, Eurogamer.) "Honestly it's embarrassing," another Reddit comment reads."I genuinely believe they ads will actually hurt the game because anyone who was maybe half interested in checking it out would see these and think not a f**king chance." The First Descendant's no stranger to controversy, though. At launch, the game had to remove a bunch of icons that it was accused of ripping off from Destiny 2 after lots of backlash.
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The First Descendant Dev Responds to AI TikTok Advert Backlash - IGN
Nexon has acknowledged "irregularities" in a series of TikTok advertisements for The First Descendant after fans accused the company of producing the "low effort" marketing materials via AI. It follows breaking news over the weekend in which Reddit user iHardlyTriHard collated four unusual advertisements after scrolling their For You Page for just 15 minutes. With all four exhibiting mismatched lip syncing, strange head movements, unnatural dialogue, and at least one that appears to use the likeness of content creator DanieltheDemon -- although whether this was with or without permission, we don't yet know -- fans immediately began speculating that they'd been produced via AI. Nexon was quick to respond, although the developer's statement spawns as many questions as it answers. It said the ads came from a TikTok Creative Challenge for creators, "which allows creators to voluntarily submit their content to be used as advertising materials." And while "all submitted videos are verified through TikTok's system to check copyright violations before they are approved as advertising content," it has since identified "cases where the circumstances surrounding the production of certain submitted videos appear inappropriate" and launched an investigation. Interestingly, the statement doesn't apologize -- the only time an apology appears, it's due to the "delay in providing this notice" about the investigation, as it's "taking longer than expected." Nexon said that once "verification is complete," it will share an update "through an official notice." Here's the statement in full: We would like to inform you of certain irregularities identified in the operation of our TikTok Creative Challenge for creators. As a part of our marketing campaign for Season 3: Breakthrough, we recently ran a Creative Challenge program for TikTok creators, which allows creators to voluntarily submit their content to be used as advertising materials. All submitted videos are verified through TikTok's system to check copyright violations before they are approved as advertising content. However, we have become aware of cases where the circumstances surrounding the production of certain submitted videos appear inappropriate. Thus, we are conducting a thorough joint investigation with TikTok to determine the facts. We sincerely apologize for the delay in providing this notice as the review is taking longer than expected. Once the verification is complete, we will promptly share an update through an official notice.Thank you for your patience and understanding. Nexon is just the latest company to come under fire for generative AI usage. In June, The Alters developer 11 Bit Studios promised an update to both to replace the AI-generated content with handcrafted assets after fans discovered AI prompts in the game that had not been properly disclosed. Jurassic World Evolution 3 developer Frontier Developments similarly had to walk back its use of generative AI characters portraits after widespread criticism, and Activision has been skewered repeatedly for its generative AI use, including recent examples of an ad for a Guitar Hero game that doesn't exist, and some Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 assets.
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Nexon's looter-shooter game The First Descendant is under fire for using AI-generated advertisements on TikTok that mimic real streamers, raising ethical concerns and sparking community outrage.
Nexon's free-to-play looter-shooter, The First Descendant, has found itself at the center of a controversy over its use of AI-generated advertisements on TikTok. These ads, featuring digital clones of streamers, have sparked outrage within the gaming community due to their uncanny appearance and potential ethical implications 1.
Source: Eurogamer
The AI-generated ads showcase digital humans promoting The First Descendant's latest content updates. However, viewers quickly noticed peculiarities in these "streamers," including unnatural mouth movements, odd pronunciations, and exaggerated expressions 2. One particularly controversial ad appears to mimic the likeness of a real content creator, DanieltheDemon, raising questions about consent and the ethical use of AI in marketing 3.
The gaming community's response has been overwhelmingly negative. Players have expressed concerns that these AI-generated ads make the game appear "fake" or potentially fraudulent 2. Many argue that using AI influencers instead of real content creators is a "kick in the teeth" to the game's existing community, especially considering Nexon's creator program boasts over 8,800 members 5.
Source: pcgamer
In response to the backlash, Nexon released a statement on social media, citing "irregularities" in their TikTok Creative Challenge for creators. The company attempted to shift some blame onto TikTok's verification process for copyright violations 4. However, this explanation has been met with skepticism, as it fails to address how such obviously AI-generated content was approved and distributed as official advertising.
This incident raises important questions about the future of game marketing and the potential misuse of AI technology. As AI-generated content becomes more sophisticated, there are concerns about the authenticity of influencer marketing and the potential for exploiting real content creators' likenesses without their consent 3.
Source: gamesradar
It's worth noting that this is not the first controversy surrounding The First Descendant. At launch, the game faced accusations of copying icons from Destiny 2, leading to their removal after significant backlash 5. This latest incident with AI-generated ads adds to the game's troubled history and may further damage its reputation among potential players.
As the gaming industry grapples with the rapid advancement of AI technology, the controversy surrounding The First Descendant serves as a cautionary tale about the ethical considerations and potential pitfalls of using AI in game marketing and promotion.
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