Pokemon Go Fans Suspect Niantic Used AI Art for Latest Promo Piece

Pokemon Go fans suspect Niantic used AI art when promoting Adventures Abound.

By Christian Hoffer

Pokemon Go fans suspect that Niantic used AI art to promote the latest in-game season. Earlier this week, Pokemon Go announced its "Adventures Abound" season, which will help roll out a first wave of Paldean Pokemon to the game. Included in the promotion was a piece of artwork featuring a cityscape with a number of strange features, including blurred text and cars and other vehicles pieced together rather strangely. The artwork has some of the hallmarks of AI art and many fans began to question whether Niantic actually used AI artwork, such as popular Pokemon personality Lewtwo, whose tweet can be seen below. 

In a statement provided to Kotaku, Niantic stopped short of denying they had used AI art, instead saying "Niantic uses a variety of tools and software to create visual assets. We don't disclose specifics around our processes."

In the past, Niantic has drawn attention to the process used to create the artwork for loading screens, with a number of artists giving an interview to Pokemon.com back in 2021 discussing the inspiration behind their loading screen artworks. They've also highlighted the artists of anniversary pieces in the past, with the most recent artist being Yusuke Kozaki, who is also in charge of character design. 

Pokemon Go's Upcoming Event Calendar

The Adventures Abound season will focus on Paldean Pokemon. Starting on September 5th, the Paldean starter Pokemon Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly will make their first appearances in the game alongside Lechonk. All four species of Pokemon can evolve into their fully evolved forms, with both versions of Oinkologne also appearing in the game. These Pokemon will appear in the wild and players can choose their Paldean Starter Pokemon via a free Special Research storyline starting on September 5th.  On September 10th, even more Paldean Pokemon will appear in the game. Bombirdier, Nymble, Pawmi, and Frigibax will debut in the game alongside their respective evolutions. Frigibax will be a rare Pokemon during the event but can be hatched in 10 KM eggs once the event is completed. Notably, Bombirdier is debuting with its Shiny form also in the game. Also, Pawmo can only be evolved into Pawmot once it has traveled 25 KM as a buddy Pokemon. 

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In addition to the two Paldea-focused events, Pokemon Go also announced a Community Day Classic event featuring Charmander that will take place on September 2, 2023 from 2 PM to 5 PM. Charmeleon evolved during this event will learn the Fast Attack Dragon Breath and the Charged Attack Blast Burn.

Timed research will also be available allowing players to obtain a Master Ball. Finally, the Legendary Beasts Suicune, Entei, and Raikou will all be available in 5-Star raids from September 23 – October 6.

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