AI-generated Pals in Palworld? These tweets would be proof

Palworld faces new allegations of using AI to create Pals, after old tweets from Pocketpair CEO resurfaced.

Since its release, Palworld has been the center of attention. The game rocketed to the top of the Steam charts and broke records by reaching over a million concurrent players in just a few days.

However, this survival game quickly nicknamed “Pokémon with guns” is polarizing public opinion. While some are praising Pocketpair for finally creating the “Pokémon” fans have been waiting for. Others are much less enchanted, pointing out practices that border on plagiarism.

Indeed, many of Palworld’s creatures have undeniable similarities with Pokémon. But that’s not all, since some players also argue that the Pocketpair studio would have used image generation by AI (Artificial Intelligence) to create the Pals.

AI-generated Pals in Palworld? Tweets from the CEO of Pocketpair set fire to the powder

Many Internet users have expressed their opinions and made comparisons between Palworld creatures and their Pokémon cousins. If accusations of plagiarism were already going strong for a few days, events took another turn when old tweets from the CEO of Pocketpair resurfaced.

Indeed, Internet users went to dig up a handful of tweets from Takuro Mizobe, the CEO of the studio behind Palworld. Published in 2021, these tweets discuss artificial intelligence, but also the way in which it could redefine copyright.

here’s the CEO of Pocketpair talking about using AI to bypass copyright, generating fakemons with it, calling AI: Art Imposter a real-time image generation game, and being excited for games powered by GPT-4 pic.twitter.com/79xwZr0yEI

— Zaytri 🍉 #StrikeForPalestine (@imZaytri) January 19, 2024

“AI has evolved so much that I can no longer tell which one is a Pokémon,” explained Takuro Mizobe, comparing Pokémon and AI-generated monsters.

Fast forward to November 28, 2022, where the CEO tweeted: “If you put it through the AI filter, the image is often not a defined thing, so maybe the copyright issue will be resolved? In about 30 years, the general public’s perception of copyright may have changed significantly.”

If Takura Mizobe does not declare in any tweet that Pocketpair used AI to generate the Pals of Palworld, many Internet users considered that these tweets were sufficient proof.

Since then, there has been a wave of backlash against the game and its creators: “I was super excited to jump into Palworld, but all the evidence I see makes it likely that the monster designs were generated by AI”.

Others have also pointed the finger AI: Art Imposter, a multiplayer game developed by Pocketpair and already using image generation as the main mechanic in the context of an aprty drawing game. For many, this old game is just another clue in favor of a Palworld designed with the help of artificial intelligence.