Earlier this month The Pokémon Company International shared the finalists for its 2024 TCG Illustration Contest and sadly they were seemingly spoiled by multiple AI-generated entries. Finally, these entries have been addressed in a new statement posted to X.
Finalists who violated the rules for the Pokémon TCG Illustration Competition have been disqualified. While there was no mention of AI, some of these disqualified entrants appear to line up with those accused of using the technology earlier this month. In their place, multiple contestants who didn’t previously make the cut have earned their spot in the top 300.
The Pokémon Company assures fans and entrants alike that they are committed to upholding the integrity of the competition, and their actions reflect this, but ultimately it was inevitably going to happen.
With the rise of AI in the art space and the number of entries for this competition, it’s no surprise that there would be cheaters among them, however, it is surprising that they were selected as finalists. Fortunately, the community was quick to point out the cheats and bring them to the attention of competition organizers. As you would expect, fans are ecstatic to see action taken against those who violated the competition rules.
Setting aside the alleged AI entrants, there are a lot of incredible pieces that have been submitted and reached the current quarter-finals. Furthermore, there was a lot of variety when it came to Pokémon choice this year, but as you’d expect Charizard and Pikachu still remained popular choices.
This is just Round One of the competition finals and in each round, the number of finalists shrinks until only the winners remain. Round Two will narrow things down to 100, and then Round Three is the final. Overall the competition had more than 10,000 entries from across the globe.
If you want to check out all of the finalists there is a gallery available to enjoy on the official Pokémon TCG Illustration Competition website now.
Published: Jun 25, 2024 01:20 am