Following complaints from players, Epic Games says it will remove racist AI-generated images uploaded by users to the popular battle royale game Fortnite. my city.
One of the features that has made Fortnite the huge online game it is today is the ability for users to create their own maps and share their playable experiences with the world. But this outlet for creativity means users can upload potentially problematic content, which is what happened here.
Recently, users began discovering island maps containing crude AI-generated images that perpetuated racist stereotypes. like my city Reportedly, examples of maps include names such as “Arab Zonewars,” “Nigerian Zonewars,” and “China Zonewars.”
The map contains racist, seemingly AI-generated images that perpetuate stereotypes, including a Middle Eastern man holding a bomb and a black man eating fried chicken. Most of the maps had small server populations, but one map called “Jamaica Zonewars” had over 35,000 active players earlier this month.
“Many of the referenced islands have already been removed and the creators have taken action,” Epic Games said. my city From the statement. “We have already addressed over 100 islands with content violations using similar thumbnail formats and will continue to do so.”
Epic Games added that discriminatory content has no place in Fortnite and violates the company’s island creator rules. It added that users who violate these guidelines may have their accounts permanently banned.
“Our moderation team reviews all content before publishing, and we are actively updating our island creator rules and moderation training program to minimize the number of offending maps that reach players,” Epic Games said. “We encourage players to report any islands they see that may be violating our rules.”
In a statement provided to decryptionGG, Epic Games said that all user-created islands are reviewed by moderators before publishing, but the team has a light touch.
Epic Games said, “If we are unsure about a content violation, we request the moderation team to determine good intentions on behalf of the creator and avoid excessive censorship.” “Sometimes this means content gets posted that shouldn’t be posted, and we quickly remove the offending content and write new training materials for our moderators. Creators found to be in violation of our Creator Rules face a variety of enforcement actions. “Includes a ban on permanent publishing and monetization.”
The publisher added that it is working on updating the “Island Maker Rules and Coordination Training Program.”
To join the generative AI craze, the Epic Games Store began accepting games and submissions featuring AI art and other elements in September. This comes after rival PC gaming marketplace Steam initially took a stance against AI content, but later relaxed its rules following a rise in such submissions.
“We don’t ban games for using new technology,” Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games, wrote on Twitter at the time, noting that Epic Games began fully self-publishing earlier that year.
While AI developers have invested heavily in removing offensive images from their models, users have found ways to “jailbreak” them using special prompts. In October, images of AI-generated SpongeBob SquarePants or Nintendo’s Kirby flying into the World Trade Center in a jetliner went viral.
Editor: Andrew Hayward