{"id":47936,"date":"2025-05-13T17:42:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T08:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=47936"},"modified":"2025-05-13T17:51:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T08:51:07","slug":"touhou-projects-20th-mainline-entry-uses-ai-art-in-demo-causing-mixed-reactions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/touhou-projects-20th-mainline-entry-uses-ai-art-in-demo-causing-mixed-reactions\/","title":{"rendered":"Touhou Project\u2019s 20th mainline entry uses AI art in demo, causing mixed reactions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The 20th mainline entry in the Touhou Project series, <strong>Touhou Kinjoukyou: Fossilized Wonders, <\/strong>officially releases in August 2025. Ahead of launch, the game got a demo release on <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/3671710\/Touhou_Kinjoukyou__Fossilized_Wonders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steam<\/a> (a bit later than intended <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/demo-of-touhou-projects-new-official-entry-rejected-from-steam-store-for-zuns-too-simple-game-description\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">due to it being rejected from the Steam store for its \u201coverly simple\u201d description<\/a>). The Steam release, however, managed to stir up controversy among fans both in Japan and overseas, namely because of the disclaimer that the new Touhou game contains AI generated content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fans had previously speculated that some of the in-game content, most notably <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/touhou\/comments\/1kf4h6e\/touhou_20_spellcard_backgrounds_might_be\/\">the<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/touhou\/comments\/1kf4h6e\/touhou_20_spellcard_backgrounds_might_be\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/touhou\/comments\/1kf4h6e\/touhou_20_spellcard_backgrounds_might_be\/\">spellcard backgrounds<\/a>, may be AI generated due to their appearance. With the release of Fossilized Wonders\u2019 Steam demo, these doubts may have been confirmed, as the disclosure regarding AI generated content on the game\u2019s steam page reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"686\" height=\"170\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 686px) 100vw, 686px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250513-479360001.jpg\" alt=\"Disclosure: Some background textures include AI-generated content.\nThere is nothing that is being generated live in real-time by Al.\n\" class=\"wp-image-47938\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250513-479360001.jpg 686w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250513-479360001-380x94.jpg 380w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Many fans of the Touhou series have voiced their concerns on X regarding AI generated content, stating that ZUN\u2019s usage of AI goes against the do-it-yourself spirit the Touhou community has been cherishing for almost 30 years. Some of them have even offered ZUN to create the new backgrounds for him to replace the AI generated ones, for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hello! I saw you&#39;re using AI for background elements. I understand the struggles of small artists and can offer you to replace them completely pro bono. Hmu if you need more hands. Love, Cakewalking.<\/p>&mdash; Cakewalking Tortokhod (@Tortokhod) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Tortokhod\/status\/1921104654638731310?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 10, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Over on the Japanese side on X, users expressed their disappointment over the fact that, while the AI generated content disclaimer was posted on Steam, it was not posted on Fossilized Wonders\u2019 DLsite page \u2013 accusing ZUN of falsely advertising his game. However, this seems to have been corrected in the meantime, as the game\u2019s DLsite page includes a \u201cPartial AI Use\u201d tag at the time of writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u3066\u304b\u6771\u65b9\u65b0\u4f5c\u751f\u6210AI\u4f7f\u7528\u3057\u3066\u308b\u306b\u3082\u95a2\u308f\u3089\u305adlsite\u306e\u8cfc\u5165\u30d5\u30a9\u30fc\u30e0\u306b\u751f\u6210AI\u4f7f\u7528\u660e\u8a18\u3057\u3066\u306a\u3044\u306e\u60aa\u8cea\u3058\u3083\u306d\uff1f<br>\u4e00\u90e8\u751f\u6210AI\u4f7f\u7528\u3057\u305f\u306a\u3089\u4e00\u90e8\u4f7f\u7528\u306e\u660e\u8a18\u3057\u308d\u3088\u898f\u7d04\u306e\u30eb\u30fc\u30eb\u3082\u5b88\u3089\u3093\u306e\u304b\uff1f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GoA7iuBgMu\">pic.twitter.com\/GoA7iuBgMu<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u3082\u305a\u304f@\u7d0d\u8c46 (@mozuku7523) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mozuku7523\/status\/1921407955410284944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 11, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On a lighter note, an X user has also pointed out that the word \u201cAI\u201d in the Steam store description is spelled with a lowercase \u201cL,\u201d making this situation feel slightly more bizarre than it already is. They jokingly explained that this means Touhou was actually not AI-generated, but alcohol-generated content all along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u518d\u5909\u63db\u304b\u3051\u305f\u3089\u78ba\u304b\u306bAI\u3067\u306f\u306a\u304fAL\u3060\u3063\u305f\u3000<br>\u3084\u306f\u308a\u6771\u65b9\u306f\u30a2\u30eb\u30b3\u30fc\u30eb\u751f\u6210\u30b3\u30f3\u30c6\u30f3\u30c4<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Cu3BKcSBPH\">https:\/\/t.co\/Cu3BKcSBPH<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pTj6I3iG3t\">pic.twitter.com\/pTj6I3iG3t<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u6d88\u96a0 (@vanihami) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vanihami\/status\/1921944693358592006?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 12, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cWhen I converted the text, it was in fact AL, not AI. I guess Touhou was alcohol-generated content after all\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The recently opened Steam store page for Touhou Project&#8217;s new mainline entry reveals that the demo uses AI art, confirming fans&#8217; speculations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":47944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,17],"class_list":["post-47936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ai","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Touhou Project\u2019s 20th mainline entry uses AI art in demo, causing mixed reactions - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The recently opened Steam store page for Touhou Project&#039;s new mainline entry reveals that the demo uses AI art, confirming fans&#039; speculations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/touhou-projects-20th-mainline-entry-uses-ai-art-in-demo-causing-mixed-reactions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Touhou Project\u2019s 20th mainline entry uses AI art in demo, causing mixed reactions - 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