This NFT Card Game Pays AI "Artist" $15K a Month For 10 Hours of Work

What happens if we mix together the most controversial topics of the past few years, NFTs and AI-generated images, and introduce the resulting blend into Twitter? Apparently, we get Champions of Otherworldly Magic, an NFT-based card-trading game, whose creators recently found themselves under fire after revealing that they pay the person responsible for generating AI images for the game's cards $15K a month for just 10 hours of work.

The post in question, embedded above, goes on to explain why the devs opted to utilize AI-generated images, saying that the anonymous individual can generate "hundreds of amazing bits of artwork – astronomically faster than any team of traditional artists".

"His art is 100% AI-generated, yet it has no extra fingers, no generic designs, no mistakes," reads the original post. "It has consistent evolutions, skins, alt art styles – literally no one is on his level. We don't care how he makes it, we only care that the end user enjoys our game."

Down in the comments, the team further added that the individual whom they hired to churn out visuals for the game is apparently an experienced Digital Artist with 15 years of experience in the field, although his real identity wasn't revealed:

Needless to say, the comments section on the original post resembled a battleground, where offended digital artists and the game's developers exchanged verbal blows in response to each other's remarks:

Following the publication, the development team doubled down on their stance, officially inviting real artists to produce visuals for the "alt art version" of one of their collections, promising profits and royalties in return:

While staunch pro-AI stance, in combination with NFT-peddling and an attitude some may find detestable, made the devs the ultimate villains in the eyes of many, others pointed out that this entire situation is likely a hate-based publicity stunt, aimed at attracting attention to the card game itself. Bad publicity is still publicity and all.

So, what do you think about the situation? Whose side are you on? Tell us in the comments and don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.