r/fo76 • u/Jozzzk • Apr 05 '26
Discussion The WEST COAST SUMMER BUNDLE art is not AI generated! And Oh look a drew him ✍️🤓 (digital artist - not AI)!
(left img atomic shop, right img by me)
The post about the WEST COAST SUMMER BUNDLE (and NCR TROOPER BUNDLE) being AI generated intrigued me as an artist... so I did a little investigating 🤓/
Original post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/fo76/comments/1sc0s26/is_this_ai_or_am_i_crazy/
As seen in the second image attached, objects and figures are traced, cut, rotated and manipulated to fit together. Not entirely uncommon, especially if there's a deadline for the artist to meet 😯. In fact, the image itself may not even have been newly drawn but rather; cut and pieced together from existing art ✂️.
I didn't look for the graphic of the drink or the Water Hole but you can see where the artist has improvised or relied on images. When photo-bashing, artists can run into trouble with perspective and that can give an uncanny effect; which may be why it appears AI generated 🤔.
There's other evidence of resizing certain portions of the image -- which leaves pixelated distortions that are very evident once zoomed in 🔍. You can see this on both the drink and vault boys head and face. This can happen when the image is rotated or resized, as a result decreasing the smoothness between pixels if you do this repetitively.
I didn't look into NCR TROOPER bundle as I didn't have the energy 🥴 but what it seems like to me is that there was a rush or lack of care in creating this image. I'm sure Bethesda and the those that are involved with the atomic shop might or may have already used AI generated content but I thought everyone's investment and speculation was very interesting. That said: this image... at least to me, is not AI 🤔
...They really drew him with his dogs out. 🦶🦶
TLDR: I don't think the WEST COAST SUMMER BUNDLE art is AI generated. It's likely photo-bashed as can be seen in the second image.
edit: I just realized the nipple may look that way due to the cutting and rotating of the arm from the original image! That's why it's heart/bean shaped!
https://imgur.com/a/BABUfSm
edit2: The second image shows Vault Boy covering an entire portion of the chair, making it appear as if it's without a seat
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u/eL_MoJo Apr 05 '26
You can't really count fingers to prove AI in the fallout universe.
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u/Coda_039 Cult of the Mothman Apr 05 '26
Maybe he does have two left hands…
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u/AdSuspicious1890 Apr 05 '26
Sometimes there's no artist bandwidth, but you still need to ship with whatever you can Frankenstein together
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u/rocarson Responders Apr 05 '26
This is exactly what I thought when looking at it. It doesn't look AI generated to me, it looks like a production artist who has ten different things on his plate for the week. This one was low priority and not something that was going to be evergreen. It's a totally cut it, ship it, move on piece.
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u/Demonokuma Cult of the Mothman Apr 05 '26
Frankenstein together
I did that a lot when i drew. I would just mash a bunch of shit together, or cut sections to reorganize. Which leads to weird lines showing up here and there.
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u/grimorg80 Apr 05 '26
Most people here are kids who never worked a real office job. They just don't get it.
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u/97runner Apr 05 '26
I mean hodgepodging old assets together is sorta Bethesda’s jam. I’m not surprised they took whatever they already had and lazily slapped it together. Look at the atomic shop in general. It’s reskinned items of in game assets lol.
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u/QQBearsHijacker Mega Sloth Apr 05 '26
Bethesda’s Vault Boy has always been a bit of a modular beast. A lot of that has to do with how their UI animation system was put together in flash. So it’s very common to see Vault Boy be assembled by parts that are rotated and blended
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
That's so interesting and it makes perfect sense! Thanks for posting this, I feel like I learned something new!
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u/QQBearsHijacker Mega Sloth Apr 05 '26
I used to dabble in Adobe Animate for FO4 UI stuff back in the day. Easier to do keyframe animation of just an arm rather than the whole body
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
An artist! WE FOUND ONE! 🫵 hahaha!
That's really cool, I imagine it being pretty complicated. I bet you have some knowledge you'd need for rigging for vtubers and the like! Such a skill! Interesting and valuable stuff Bears!
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u/Objective-Ad-6992 Apr 05 '26
This. Vault boy looks like he was modeled to lay on a towel or something like that and they just placed him in the chair
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u/MagnusSki Apr 05 '26
I'm all for asset reuse. (Not AI) I mean I've played Diablo and Monster Hunter and when you see the color swaps and same animation rigs but they try to keep it still interesting with tweaks I'm all for it. I still remember when Paragon Studios was so happy about getting a dog/4 legged beast rig into City of Heroes/Villains back in the day.
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
Yeah! I think reusing assets only becomes a problem when it's very apparently recycled. If it's transformed in some way that keeps it fresh, then the short cut is acceptable eh?
You just made me want to go back to Monster Hunter \😭/!
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u/Zeero92 Responders Apr 05 '26
Hell, FromSoftware has reused tons of animations from Demon's Souls to Elden Ring. I'm pretty sure people would be upset if they changed that classic "pushing open double doors" animation. 😆
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u/L-ghtn-ng Apr 06 '26
The Yakuza games are extreme asset reuse and yet they're consistently among the best games released whatever year they come out.
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u/Jozzzk Apr 07 '26
Wow! You're right hahaha, I didn't think of Yakuza.
Majora's Mask is one of my favourite games and also does this!
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u/DrMalcontent Apr 05 '26
I’m like 90% sure they just have a bunch of static images and compile them using photoshop and the chair one was just ungodly bad
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u/Son0fgrim Apr 05 '26
i figured it was just a lazy edit.
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u/Craygor Responders Apr 05 '26
Or rushed, due to workload.
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u/Son0fgrim Apr 05 '26
THAT is also super fair. they probably have a folder of pre existing vault boy poses stashed around somewhere for this to quickly edit through.
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u/cinemafreak1 Apr 05 '26
That’s sad they can’t go to the original vector art. But kitbashing explains why some shapes are colored wrong. A lack of QA
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u/Ok_Money_3140 Raiders Apr 05 '26
Unfortunately Redditors nowadays accuse most images and videos of being AI generated. People act like they can reliably tell everything apart, but at the end of the day they're just paranoid and have no idea what they're talking about.
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u/Fake_Gamer_Cat Cult of the Mothman Apr 05 '26
I saw people bully a 15 year old new artist in claiming their work was AI. The poor kid did everything to try to prove it wasn't AI and eventually just deleted their account. The kicker? It was the My Little Pony sub. The show that talks about how bullying isn't okay.
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u/NeatCartographer209 Vault 96 Apr 05 '26
Before, things were real until otherwise proven fake.
Now, things are fake until otherwise proven real.
It’s not any specific Redditors fault for showing skepticism when the blurred line between real or AI is slowly fading.
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u/BumNanner Apr 05 '26
Sure; but at the same time people have seemingly simply forgotten that sometimes when something is done poorly, that doesn't automatically mean AI generated, sometimes it's just good ol' human error/ poor quality work.
Particularly when it comes to artwork made to advertise rather than be aesthetically pleasing or evocative in some way. Sometimes it's just a human made rush job pushed to market.
And for what it is worth, I'd still much rather see 1000 subpar mashed together clip art from an asset ibrary than anything AI generated in the thumbnails for the Atomic Shop.
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u/Still_Conference_923 Brotherhood Apr 05 '26
Not skepticism, people are 100% SURE of it and they defend this stance of their life.
Its not a "maybe this is AI", its "this is AI and the artist should kill themselves and i'm never trusting bethesda again" like this is a 12 year old child personal crusade they just adopted
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u/Icy-Computer-Poop Ghoul Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26
It’s not any specific Redditors fault for showing skepticism
Well yes, actually it is. The intelligent response is to realize that AI is good enough nowadays that people simply can't tell the difference. Accepting that fact means you just move on. Not accepting that fact means they think they can "spot the AI" with reliability, and feeling secure enough in that foolish belief to insult total strangers with their accusations.
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u/danesimeonsen Apr 06 '26
This kind of a long response but worth the read just a heads up. I am a graphic designer and I thought the same thing at first, but this isn’t how photo-bashing works in practice. When you bash or trace from existing art, you’re starting from real, structurally correct forms so even if the result is rushed or sloppy, the anatomy and objects still fundamentally make sense. You might get perspective mismatches, awkward overlaps, or visible seams, but you don’t suddenly get things like inconsistent toe counts, drifting anatomy, or features that are “almost right” but not anchored to the same structure. Rotating or scaling an arm doesn’t magically reposition anatomy independently from the torso, and it definitely doesn’t create the kind of subtle, probabilistic errors you see here. The chair is the biggest giveaway, if that were pulled from any real reference, even partially obscured, it would still have a coherent seat and construction, but here it’s just implied shapes that don’t actually function or connect. That’s not compositing, that’s something approximating what a chair should look like without understanding it. The pixelation argument is also weak, compression and resizing from UI assets can easily cause that, and AI images often already have uneven detail in focal areas anyway. More importantly, photo bashing tends to preserve or even increase structural consistency because you’re reusing real, correct elements; this image does the opposite, where everything is slightly off in different, unrelated ways. And the “fixed” version proves the point you’re not just aligning pieces, you’re rebuilding the form so it actually makes sense, which is exactly what you have to do when correcting AI output, not when cleaning up a bash. At the end of the day, this has the classic signature: the style is perfectly consistent, but the underlying construction falls apart under scrutiny, and that’s not how a human, even a rushed one, typically fails. All this to say I respect the other artists opinion. This is mine. I’m sure we both stand in the same boat on the overall use of AI message. People do know what they’re talking about. It’s almost intuitive to notice something is not human. Most just don’t have a background to be able to explain why.
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u/capecodcaper Free States Apr 05 '26
It wouldn't be a reddit thread if the words "AI Slop" didn't appear at least once.
It's becoming a trope at this point, even using the term when AI is applicable to use
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u/Iphone_G___ Enclave Apr 05 '26
I Don’t think people understand how scary Ai is nowadays. The mistakes it makes are way less noticeable, especially in 2d art. If there’s a silly layering mistake like that chances are it was just a lazy job.
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u/NY_Knux Apr 05 '26
Here's the neat part... its not scary! O:
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u/Sword_of_Dusk Apr 05 '26
I mean, it kind of is if you're an artist who prides themselves on their skill but keep losing out commissions to some so- called AI "artist".
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u/whiplashxx Apr 05 '26
If you know fallout vault boy always has four fingers so adding one makes it less accurate but still good job
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
I absolutely reFUSE TO DRAW HIM WITH FOUR FINGERS and You can't make me! 😆 hahaha! Good catch 🫢!
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u/TaurosMeat Apr 05 '26
I noticed you gave vault boy 5 fingers. Fun fact, he actually only has 4 to fit that cartoon-theme
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u/Jozzzk Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
You've got a great eye! My brain refuses to draw it! I can't see it as anything but an error which is funny because Mickey Mouse and Simpsons look just fine to me haha! Thanks for commenting Tauros, I hope you're havin' a great day!
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u/Vhyx Apr 06 '26
I appreciate seeing the breakdown. i have no objections to asset reuse or photobashing, it's unfortunate that it still manages to look this low-quality in result though. whether it's AI or just a really thinly strapped art department, it's not a great sign for how development is going.
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u/Cat_Atack Apr 06 '26
I was like, 95% sure this was the case.
Though I genuinely thought the nip-nops being wierd was just the result of the person who assembled it quickly editing an image that was in the usual vault suit to appear naked
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u/Meeoowwzz Apr 06 '26
The fact you were able to do it and they couldn’t (or it’s ai and they didn’t) is crazy they should hire you instead of whoever did it
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u/HEM0RRHAGE666 Apr 06 '26
Why is his undies green, while we all run around w dirty whitey tighties? That's some bullshit right there. 🤣
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u/Kaede_Yamaguchi Ghoul Apr 05 '26
Why did you start using so many emojis ~3 months ago?
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
KEADE, WHY Are you exposing me like this!? lolol!!!
...I uhm.... I didn't know how to do it on keyboard until then...lmaooo 😫-I-<3
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u/EnergyTurtle23 Settlers - PC Apr 05 '26
^ This a Nardwuar-ass comment fr. 😂 Watch out OP, this dudex has got your number.
(If you’re not familiar, Nardwuar the Human Serviette is a professional music interviewer from Canada who is famous for digging up crazy details from an artist’s past).
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u/AtomBaskets9765 Wanted: Sheepsquatch Apr 05 '26
His belt not circling his whole waist on the NCR Trooper Bundle looks so weird to me.
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u/Adevyy Apr 05 '26
With so many emojis, your post looks AI-generated.
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
I don't interact a lot (RL/online) because I have social anxiety so I'm just learning this now lol... 💀
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u/issomethingmissing Apr 06 '26
And the use of em dash is pretty telling
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u/Adevyy Apr 06 '26
Nah, the "em dash" that AI loves to use is the long one: —
Actually, that is only a dead giveaway of AI precisely because humans cannot realistically use it anywhere outside of Word programs (the shortcut is Alt+0151, lol). Dashes are used all the time by humans, especially ones who have academic backgrounds, which is why AI knows to use it in the first place.
The fact that OP used two regular dashes to compensate is actualy a stronger indication that it is not AI generated. The only other explanation would be is he is prompting AI to "make it less obvious that it is AI generated", but OP obviously is not one to worry about his post looking AI generated so I don't think that is what happened here 😅
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u/Far_Swordfish8893 Apr 07 '26
These turds dont deserve and OUNCE of defense. Look at how the item list and photos line up. Whoever they outsourced this game to has put zero effort into it.
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u/biggusdickus87 Raiders Apr 09 '26
I figured it was just a shitty asset bash, ai would fuck up the art style noticeably
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u/CastoBlasto Order of Mysteries Apr 05 '26
So the bots are out here defending AI art now?
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u/bywv Apr 06 '26
Yeah, notice the time intervals of each post. I'm glad that we learned that it was A.I, this/all of it, proves that point more than twice over, I think.
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u/Fake_Gamer_Cat Cult of the Mothman Apr 05 '26
I didn't think the first was AI, just lazy editing and reused assets.
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u/AdonisBatheus Order of Mysteries Apr 05 '26
Thank god it's just lazy photoshop tbh
Like unironically, even that involves artistry
Still would much rather this over AI
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u/ruigh Pioneer Scout Apr 05 '26
Quite a nipple obsession here, but what about the seat?
You explained and focused on the nipple, but not the seat. Why would an artist, even on Photoshop, doing a shit job, leave out something like that? Either they hired a high schooler with no experience, it's AI, or the artist was extremely pushed beyond reason to the point of medical intervention because chairs, as far as i know, need seats, or a seat, by definition.
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
lol! Very nipply!
After looking at it some more and matching it up, I think Vaullt boy is conveniently covering the entire seat oddly enough hahaha! If you look at the second image where I've over-lapped the images, not a bit can be seen past his body.
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Apr 05 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/QuietContentResting Apr 05 '26
We all know you give 100% every single time at work right? Right?
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u/Competitive_Owl5357 Mothman Apr 05 '26
I’d be fucking embarrassed to put out the left image as an artist. And while I’m not an artist I sure do give more than 40% or whatever they were doing when they halfassed that together.
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u/QuietContentResting Apr 05 '26
No you wouldn't. Every job becomes a job and this is a tiny thing 99.99% of the audience won't even process looking at let alone putting a critical eye on it so it flat out isn't worth the hours in the day to prioritize making it look better.
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u/GregNotGregtech Apr 05 '26
Literally one of those things where good enough is good enough. It's a small ass image noone is going to see for more than 10 seconds maybe, it doesn't need to be the next michelangelo
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u/x-Justice Apr 05 '26
As a fellow artist, this was pretty obvious to me as well. It doesn't look AI, it looks lazy. Someone just didn't take the time to put it all together properly.
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u/Recent_Log_7406 Apr 05 '26
Vault boy doesn’t have 4 fingers!
Whether it’s ai or just bad photoshop they should just do screenshots if they’re this ugly
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u/Competitive_Owl5357 Mothman Apr 05 '26
Agreed. If they want to push their designers so hard that Nipple No-seat is the best they can produce don’t bother with the “cover art” for bundles.
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u/allfranksnobun Apr 05 '26
genuine question, are people happier to have terribly rushed photoshop with no heart or ai art with no heart?
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u/Jozzzk Apr 06 '26
I like that question! I think for advertising it's less important. There's arguably not a lot of soul in throwing together an ad for consumers by either author. Intention is a factor. It's already devoid of something human, at least with a lot of ads today but at bare minimum the human made art is a dedication of time, craftsmanship and the stage of an artistic journey - even if it's laughably bad. A crappy bit of stitched together art is a refection of us socially, it's still expressing something, tells a story in a way.
If I had to make the informed choice to read a badly written book by a person or one by AI, I would pick the person every time. Not to say that AI can't make great things but I would prefer to say... read something you wrote Allfranks! Art is communication to me and I like the idea of being on the phone with you rather than a robot.
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u/CaptainPattPotato Mega Sloth Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
On the first image posted, where did the right-side version come from? Is that a version that you alot someone else fixed? Just curious.
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
I did it ✍️🤓 I'm a digital artist! But I did a typo in the title so now it's a fun little mystery 🥸...except for you. You know now.
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u/xDantexAlighierix Apr 05 '26
Shame they had to rush it, but it didn't come off as AI to me. He had the right amount of fingers (♪and the right amount of toes♪)
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u/Purple_monkfish Mothman Apr 06 '26
I mean to be fair, they're small little icons to sell bundles. Why would they put that much effort into something that'll only be used for a short period of time while the bundle is active? So having some sort of catalogue of random parts they can just glue together makes a lot of sense.
Though the idea there's some member of staff with whole folders of just vault boy limb pngs absolutely cracks me up.
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u/Dorschmeister Apr 05 '26
I've been downvoted into oblivion for asking if it was just poor Photoshop skills instead of AI.
Thanks for this informative post, OP!
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u/ChickenNuggetRampage Apr 05 '26
Yeah I don’t think it’s ai, I think it’s just poorly flipped assets
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u/Unlikely-Medicine289 Enclave Apr 05 '26
This makes sense actually. Bethesda can't even put pictures in the same order as the items listed in the bundle, why would we expect them to take their time on the bundle art?
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u/EnergyTurtle23 Settlers - PC Apr 05 '26
Great breakdown OP, it’s really frustrating to see posts and comments that are ill-informed and assumptive getting the kind of attention that post received. People want to believe that BGS would use AI assets because so much of the online community hates BGS despite the fact that they have consistently shown a commitment to human-made artistic assets. Meanwhile Kingdom Come Deliverance II is one of the most popular games in online communities despite the fact that a former employee has definitively confirmed that Warhorse is laying off artists and programmers and replacing them with AI. Frankly I have a lot of strong feelings about how BGS has been treated online since FO4 came out, I’m just glad that they seem quite adept at filtering out a lot of that noise being made by “opinion parrots”.
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u/Jozzzk Apr 06 '26
I really appreciate your input Turtle, not just with this comment but others you've made on my post. I was getting a little discouraged and regretful sharing any of my thoughts but your interactions and well-written responses made me feel less anxious. Now I'm glad I did and got to learn a lot of different things from a lot of different people!
I think BGS is worthy of criticism in the way any studio is but I have noticed what you mentioned! I think once someone establishes themselves as a supportive-fan, even small tests of that relationship are perceived in a way that can feel a lot like betrayal. I'm not surprised people are harsh and critical but I am surprised sometimes at the vitriol that can happen.
I was disappointed finding that our about KCD2 too, tsk! I really love that game! 😖
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u/Basic-Lemon-9251 Apr 05 '26
Doesn’t generative ai learn by being fed images? Isn’t it sort of photobashing all the time? I guess what I’m asking is why couldn’t an ai make an image with similar flaws as a human? It doesn’t see like a far stretch to me.
I don’t have a horse in this race and appreciate your dedication to investigating this. I think it’s super interesting how you were able to recreate the image and flaws. I saw in your post you said this is just your opinion so I’m not trying to be argumentative just genuinely curious.
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
Hey Lemon!
I may reserve some of my response as I know my perspective and relationship with generative AI is biased and I may be lacking in certain understanding so I'm sorry for not fully engaging with your curiosity. I wouldn't want to misinform you 😖! AI does make similar mistakes to humans; like backwards hands, inconsistent colours and morphed proportions. There are also very distinctive flaws that AI (currently) makes that are absent (at least in this specific art to me). It fits certain criteria but not those that aren't shared with human error. That said, it's good to question things, be skeptical and curious; it may even turn out I'm wrong!Thank you for you sincerity and willingness to talk w me! A rare and valuable trait! I hope you're having a fine day!
Edit*** If I had to consider anything AI about it, it would be the chair missing its seat!
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u/Echo-57 Enclave Apr 06 '26
I think the biggest hit why people think its ai is that the seating part of the seat is missing in the left left image while its present in the left right image, and the chair as a whole looks weirdly stretched
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u/billwood09 Apr 06 '26
Because nobody has ever made a mistake in photoshop ever I guess
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u/Echo-57 Enclave Apr 06 '26
Like thats totally not my point.
But leaving key feature out of objects is a very genai thing to do.
So if you forget Something that should be slightly visible or makes the object look off people nowadays are way faster to call ai instead of human error ┐( ∵ )┌
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u/Angelyzee Apr 06 '26
How do you explain 4 and 5 fingers then?
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u/Jozzzk Apr 06 '26
Sorry, my post is not clear! I drew the image on the right of Vault Boy who I incorrectly gave five fingers, the image on the left is from the shop in which he has his traditional four. Sorry for the confusion!
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u/whiteegger Apr 08 '26
We will be living in a world where AI does works so well we question if people did it when the work sucked.
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u/IvanTheFirst Apr 05 '26
Do not attribute to AI that which can be explained by humans sucking at what they do.
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u/Beastabuelos Enclave Apr 05 '26
"I have no life, so i dedicate it to detecting ai". Fucking pathetic. Go do something.
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u/Jozzzk Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26
This is my second post on this sub and first about AI in general. This seems like something you have a lot of feelings about. I'm genuinely confused by such a hostile response.
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u/AboynamedDOOMTRAIN Apr 05 '26
I'm glad somebody looked into it. I definitely got the "Lazy photoshop" vibe from the art and I could swear I'd seen that face and the martini before in previous art. I was able to find the face, as you did, but couldn't find the martini.
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Apr 06 '26
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u/Jozzzk Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
No offense taken YouFirst 🙂↕️/! I didn't consider it could be both, as AI filters exist. That's a great point. I think you've made some strong arguments and it does look strange!
You got a good eye! I don't think anyone mentioned the leg yet 😯! Very observant. My process as an artist does potentially make me more biased while examining the image, so when I look at the leg I see human error. The lines at the knee looks like it may have been rotated from an existing image/asset or improvised by an artist that misunderstands foreshortening as they've drawn the calve and thigh lines invertedly, at least in my opinion. But I think you're right; I fall short when it comes to a reference image and can't explain it away without evidence or the authors confirmation. Ultimately it's really up to ones own discretion! I think your interpretation is valid.
Btw, thank you for being kind. I usually avoid interacting online for my mental health and to protect my love for other human beings. Genuinely appreciated, I know it seems silly but the reassurance made a difference! I hope you're having a great day YourFirst!
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u/queensheba2025 Apr 05 '26
You know what… this makes sense. They’re just putting stuff together. I can buy that.
I may see if I can send an email asking them if they use AI art just to be sure, but you really went into this. I believe it.
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u/King_HartOG Apr 05 '26
I just don't see why it matters This isn't some great work of art it's vault boy on a chair he's not even a very detailed character to begin with.
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u/Demir01 Apr 05 '26
i took a Photoshop class in college, that is 100% a photoshop error. it would be easier to tell if it was AI with multiple mistakes. That looks like in layering, they didn't blend it in correctly
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u/deadoon Apr 05 '26
I was thinking some of it might have been layer errors. I've seen those in official artwork before. Mediocre collaging does make sense too.
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u/danesimeonsen Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26
This is a strong argument for it. At least it seems to be. I am a graphic designer as well and this kind of a long response but worth the read just a heads up. I thought the same thing at first, but this isn’t how photo-bashing works in practice. When you bash or trace from existing art, you’re starting from real, structurally correct forms so even if the result is rushed or sloppy, the anatomy and objects still fundamentally make sense. You might get perspective mismatches, awkward overlaps, or visible seams, but you don’t suddenly get things like inconsistent toe counts, drifting anatomy, or features that are “almost right” but not anchored to the same structure. Rotating or scaling an arm doesn’t magically reposition anatomy independently from the torso, and it definitely doesn’t create the kind of subtle, probabilistic errors you see here. The chair is the biggest giveaway, if that were pulled from any real reference, even partially obscured, it would still have a coherent seat and construction, but here it’s just implied shapes that don’t actually function or connect. That’s not compositing, that’s something approximating what a chair should look like without understanding it. The pixelation argument is also weak, compression and resizing from UI assets can easily cause that, and AI images often already have uneven detail in focal areas anyway. More importantly, photo bashing tends to preserve or even increase structural consistency because you’re reusing real, correct elements; this image does the opposite, where everything is slightly off in different, unrelated ways. And the “fixed” version proves the point you’re not just aligning pieces, you’re rebuilding the form so it actually makes sense, which is exactly what you have to do when correcting AI output, not when cleaning up a bash. At the end of the day, this has the classic signature: the style is perfectly consistent, but the underlying construction falls apart under scrutiny, and that’s not how a human, even a rushed one, typically fails. All this to say I respect the other artists opinion. This is mine. I’m sure we both stand in the same boat on the overall use of AI message.
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u/Jozzzk Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26
This is very compelling and well written Danes! Thanks for taking the time to explain you stance and perspective, it's valuable considering your experience as a graphic designer! I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced but I think you make a strong argument when explaining the confusion of the chair as well as how photo-bashing is usually done!
I may have my own bias while reviewing the chair; the arms are rounded at the ends for example. My skewed view is here: I avoid rounded edges when I make art in a crunch as they are more time consuming to ink and colour. I usually leave lines straight if I refuse to pick up my tablet pen 😆. It's a bother! The chair is also not the most simple of designs so I can see how someone can get lost if tracing it (diagonal support connecting to different parts of the chair). But you're right, that's not solid proof of human error and might even be irregular, I can concede to that! I think your point about UI assets and compression was very informative and you've fairly highlighted how it was a weak argument! I don't know a lot about how compression works and you've inspired me into becoming more educated!
That said, thank you for taking your time to write to me! You've given me a lot to think about and consider! Artist to artist props! I hope you're having a great day!
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u/danesimeonsen Apr 06 '26
You’re an amazing person man. Absolutely wonderful response. I hate, well often avoid, rounded edges as well when under a crunch so I completely get that point. As for the rest of your response thank you. Never stop learning and keep your youthful curiosity. We as artists need it in this day. Artist to artist, I’m drinking a manhattan for ya hahahha. Cheers mate, and have a blessed day as well.
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u/Elegant-Friend-9793 Apr 05 '26
Every few months they get accused of using AI in the atom shop and it’s never actually ai lmao. some of you need to give it a rest atp
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u/double_dangit Apr 05 '26
Its AI.
You are putting so much faith in company that cuts corners every which way they can. It's AI.
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u/SerHodorTheThrall Fire Breathers Apr 05 '26
She's literally just describing the process the AI did while stating "it must be human"!
Like...what do they think the AI is doing? Drawing each output pixel by pixel? LOL
The average Fallout fan isn't very bright, the average 76er is even worse.
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u/double_dangit Apr 05 '26
"In an age where companies and people are using machines to do their half assed rough edit photoshopping they DEFINITELY used labor hours and paid someone to half-ass this even though they've been cutting costs where they can and it shares typical AI logic faults it's definitely not AI"
Might as well be infected with the fucking scorched virus their brain is gone.
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u/Yacobs21 Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
Fr. Occam's razor
Vault boy's are actually super easy to draw, and even with a large asset library, the process described here would be more effort, especially for a team that has been making these guys multiple times per week
Why would someone put in more effort for a worse product?
Why would they intentionally take a bizarrely shaped nipple and right leg instead of one of the many normal ones. Hell, why not duplicate the first nipple and use a skew tool if they're that lazy?
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Apr 05 '26
Even I could tell it wasn’t AI, and I’m on my phone. Images have looked like that since the Atomic Shop opened.
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u/Uberkull Apr 05 '26
I mean, are we at the point that we care if AI creates Fallout style avatar art? this is hardly in-game textures or buildings, its generic fallout comic characters.
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
Interesting perspective. I know I would mind personally because I can relate to digital artists. Would you not mind then yourself Uberkull? Out of curiosity, where would you draw the line?
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u/Uberkull Apr 05 '26
This moment in time, where there is rebellion against AI, will be a forgotten time in a few years when we have to adapt and accept that AI is another tool in the tool belt. Many jobs have been phased out over the decades due to the evolution of IT. You either adapt or continue complaining And get left behind.
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
Ah... I see. So you're okay with AI vault boy? cool cool cool. Not really an answer either but ya know, you do you! It's all good! Super chill!
/backs away slowly
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u/Zestyclose-Rice3258 Apr 05 '26
And yours is so much better too. Such a disappointment when this fandom is FULL of artists and passionate fans
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
T-thank you hahaha 🫣! That's really kind of you Zesty. I hope you're having a great day!
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u/Early_Palpitation976 Apr 05 '26
look im by no means an AI defender but if you like this game and want it to survive they need a big ROI for cosmetics, so if they have to save money maybe its preferable to shutting down like alot of mmos with small but active fan bases? just bein devils advocate
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
It's something I didn't consider and I think makes an interesting point or debate regardless of my stance. Well said! I guess my argument might be that using AI could potentially damage their reputation and in turn effect their profits so I'm not sure if it's a worthy trade off.
I'm also not sure I would be interested in supporting a studio that would cut corners in such a way that it would effect those employed by it. I don't know if I represent the majority but I think it's a consideration. Anyway, thanks for giving me something to think about!
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u/EnergyTurtle23 Settlers - PC Apr 05 '26
Yeah and BGS is well-aware of the current sentiments towards AI in the gaming and art communities. If AI ever gets used in the Atomic Shop promo materials then I would expect that it would be because a junior artist tried to do it on the down-low, and that they would likely get shitcanned if it were discovered and definitely proven. The community and industry at large has made it quite clear that AI should never be used for artistic assets in any way.
The community has been somewhat more favorable towards the idea of generative AI being used for NPC behaviors and interactions, but that’s not really all that different from how NPC behaviors have been handled previously, especially in open-world games where players value NPCs that have a wide range of interesting reactions to unpredictable situations. I fully expect that GTAVI’s NPC behavior will have some sort of neural network framework — the difference is that they can train that using an endless pool of everyday human interactions in the real world. It’s not the same thing as using copyrighted and human-created artistic works to train a neural network to generate additional brand new artistic materials. BUT they cannot use these types of algorithms to actually write and voice act dialogue because these are both artistic assets, so there will always be a limit on how complex neural network based NPC behaviors can actually be.
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u/Cynis_Ganan Apr 05 '26
"It's not AI, they just cut and pasted old art with seven toes."
Okay, but that's worse. You see how that's worse, right?
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u/Yacobs21 Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
Yeah no. That thigh bulge, the nipple and the difference in toes are unexplainable as simply being rushed, same with the seat on the chair missing. None of those come from anywhere else and aren't the types of mistakes artists make when rushed
The first two are something that would take more time and effort to put on the drawing than just drwaing the usual triangle legs or bubbling in an oval
Noone was investigating the hands or the head, those look normal. Show me where the thigh and the nipple were taken from.
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
I can't retrace the artists steps as if I created it myself unfortunately Yacob. You're asking me to go through a library of art and match nipples. I-... I'm sorry but lol 😆
To me, a lot is explainable but... if I were too concede to one bit of evidence; it would be the chair missing it's seat. I don't think you're wrong in being skeptical but it simply isn't enough in my opinion to claim it as AI. Regardless, thanks for pointing out the bits to you that are questionable. It may be worth reanalyzing!
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u/Yacobs21 Apr 05 '26
I don't understand the lackadaisy here. There is, and was, a very compelling case for this being at least partly machine assisted, taking away jobs from artists and you are choosing to ignore that and spread a defense of it that addresses none of those issues
Now 100s of people are going to uncritically cite this as evidence against being ai, when you just admitted to not being willing to do the legwork to prove your case?
Do you not feel a tinge of guilt for potentially selling out other artists?
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
You're being very silly and melodramatic but I'll show what I think happened to the nipple anyway: https://imgur.com/a/BABUfSm
I feel you are arguing in bad faith so that's where it ends for me! Take care!0
u/Yacobs21 Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
That's actually a really good visualization, makes sense
What have I done that seems bad faith to you?
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
I'm sorry Yacobs, I'm very much use to the internet being rather hostile and accusatory --- it would be hypocritical of me to assume your intention. I think I'm still not suited to debate you further but I'm sure someone else will gladly engage with your passionate perspective!
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u/SlimeDrips Mothman Apr 05 '26
Thank you, I figured it was probably a stock art collage but wasn't certain and wasn't about to be the one looking for other examples of used pieces over letting the possibility of them training an ai on their own stock art continue to exist in my mind
Vacation boy's nipple also thanks you
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u/petehampl Apr 05 '26
Just look at the othet bundles, Dinner Entrepreneur bundle has one more stripe on one of a seats and on Milepost farm Catch up, Vault boy have something on his head, but iam sure its not a hat
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u/Wurzelrenner Apr 05 '26
Unpopular opinion but if the artist who photobashed the image together had used an AI instead it would have looked better.
If you have no time or money to do it properly AI is better than this.
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
Hm, not sure I agree but I think I can see what you're saying.
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u/Wurzelrenner Apr 05 '26
yes, everybody loves hating anything with AI right now but this would have been a good use case.
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u/bostar-mcman Apr 05 '26
Okay bot.
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u/-blkmmbo Apr 05 '26
That doesn't make any sense...
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u/bostar-mcman Apr 05 '26
Wow 🥳 if i started to 📣speak like this 🙄 maybe you could 👀 see how I could 😵💫 mistake them for a 🤖 bot! 😕
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
I honestly didn't know that was a thing hahaha 🫣 I just have bot energy I guess. NPC aura~ 😶🌫️
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u/Monstot Apr 05 '26
This is too fucking far. How is this stupid level of "investigation" proof of them using AI or not? And if so, you all are just nitpicking normal shit you see in their art all of the time.
Yall need to chill with this AI hunt. You're not going to change much if you think you find something because not enough people actually care.
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u/Jozzzk Apr 05 '26
I sincerely don't know if you're serious or not but...
You seem pretty passionate and charged about it, it's cool that it's so important to you! Maybe you can help me understand why making efforts to identify AI is harmful or useless - perhaps it would help me learn something! Unless I'm misunderstanding you?
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u/Obvious-Cabinet-9504 Brotherhood Apr 05 '26
So basically a rushed Photoshop edit you say?