Dark Moon Dragonrider Of The Swamp

Here is the image in question:

I'm going to focus on the parts that are very obviously AI generated. I've seen accusations that the character illustrations are also AI, and I'm not fully convinced by those accusations, but I also don't personally know enough about these character designs and prior box art to make a sound judgement.

I will say this: if the characters were AI generated, they almost certainly had to be heavily cleaned up by an artist. There are too many repeating elements such as zippers, chains, fingers, and soles of boots, which AI by itself would have unmistakably fudged. Best case scenario, the illustrations look a little rushed.

But let's take a look at the background elements, which I can say with confidence were definitely AI generated:

The clock tower to the lower right of Goofy drew my attention immediately.

Seemingly unrelated fun fact time! I am a quilter and I work at a sewing shop. As of recently we've seen a surge in popularity of steampunk themed fabric prints... and a LOT of it has been AI generated garbage. Steampunk tends to feature a lot of clockwork and mechanical components and things like that, which AI struggles immensely with.

Here's are some examples from a real fabric panel that I have seen with my own two eyes in real life. Focus on the gears. See how their spokes are all over the place, and screw holes are just placed willy-nilly:

The giraffe is a particularly egregious example.

AI is good at making things look sensible from a distance, but once you get close up, you start seeing things that no real artist in their right mind would accept in their own work. Look for elements that should be symmetrical or have repeating patterns. AI consistently sucks at depicting them.

Another thing that AI is notoriously bad at is preventing it's lines from melting into hot sludge. On the left side of the KH Collection cover art we see this in action:

Wtf is that on the left? Are those crates? Are they supposed to be bricks? The siding of a building? I literally can't even tell. Not to mention whatever is going on with the railing of the staircase, and the way the lamps(?) are melting into the surrounding elements.

Sometimes AI is conveniently obvious like this. It makes our lives easier by making it simple to avoid. But other times it can be a little trickier. At first glance, this strange castle in the top right looks intentionally designed, with its towers pointing in many different directions:

But upon closer inspection we see the same issues as before. Lines melting together, vague structures, and nonsense geometry. Again, things that a real artist wouldn't do deliberately, especially not for the cover art of a highly acclaimed series.

For comparison, even M.C. Escher's busiest and most warped sketches are well defined. The drawings follow a clear set of geometrical rules. You can easily make out the edges of all buildings/structures, even down to the tiniest details such as the windows:

I feel really truly awful for Kingdom Hearts fans who have been waiting for huge news for so long, only to get served a side of AI slop.

The worst part about it all is that even if the character illustrations are legit, they are always going to be called into question now. There's a saying that goes something like "the gallery as a whole is only as good as its worst piece." I think this box art exemplifies that saying. So long as the background is AI generated, we can only assume that everything else is as well.

I do hope that Square Enix feels a nasty backlash from this, because I do NOT want AI in the art that I enjoy, whether it's in video games, art, music, writing, movies, and on and on and on.

Here's how it works:

Someone starts a fire at an army draft office.

The cops look through their files for anyone who might be in the political orbit of someone who'd want to do that. People picked up at protests, for drug charges, vandalism, anyone who is already on their radar. They look into their known associates, anyone they live with, anyone they drink with.

Then they start subpoenaing these people for a grand jury summons. They give you immunity (but only for the matter of the grand jury!) so that you can't exercise the fifth amendment against self incrimination. If you say nothing, they can imprison you almost indefinitely for contempt of court. If they catch you in a lie, that's criminal perjury.

They'll ask you for information on everyone you know. Obviously they'll ask about their involvement in any crimes, but they're casting a wide net. Who knows who, where do they hang out, who talked to who about what and when. They'll ask you to spill interpersonal stuff, whether anyone is cheating on someone, whether people have substance abuse problems or embarrassing personal issues, if anyone is closeted, anything they consider dirt. Anyone you name is gonna get subpoenaed and they'll be asked for all this information on everyone they know, including you, and although you have immunity from your own testimony, you don't get immunity from each others.

Assuming you didn't personally do anything they can prosecute you for in the matter of the grand jury, they'll go after you based on what they know. The cops will arrest you on any little thing they have suspicion of, even if they know they can't prosecute you, just so that they can keep you in jail for a few days while you miss two shifts at work and your friends have to scramble to raise bail. They'll leak any embarrassing info that comes out, to your boss or your family or even the local press. Whatever they can do to make your life a little harder.

They will lean fucking hard on anyone who is involved in the scene but had second thoughts or felt like they were dragged into something they never wanted to do in the first place by their friends. The cops will say 'do you want to get your life ruined by people who did something stupid over something you barely even believe in' and sometimes that's a very compelling argument! If people have dependents or kids who they think won't be looked after if they go to prison, there's a lot of pressure to cooperate.

It's important to note two things:

1) Based on the ratio of actual prison sentences to maximum possible sentences for the charges, it's better for people not to cooperate with the jury both individually and as a group. People who talk still get sentenced, with the information they helped provide.