Magic: The Gathering boss says AI could start designing MTG

The Head Designer for the Magic: The Gathering card game confirmed it’s a “pretty plausible future” where sets and expansions could be designed with AI tools.

With the recent explosion of AI tools, many are still unsure how artificial intelligence will change the landscape surrounding entertainment. In some cases, using AI-generated art has been labeled as harmful while other companies like Pixar have used AI to great effect.

As AI tools are still a somewhat recent development, many members of the gaming industry are still wondering how they will fit into the landscape.

Now, the Head Designer behind Magic: The Gathering card game, Mark Rosewater, has claimed AI will likely play a big part in designing future expansions.

Magic: The Gathering sets could eventually be designed by AI

The confirmation comes by way of Rosewater’s Tumblr blog, where he responded to a question that asked about his thoughts on using artificial intelligence to assist with play design and balancing.

The head designer responded with the following: “I believe there will come a day where AI is a tool we use for design, but there are a whole host of issues to work through before we get there.”

While AI tools can certainly have benefits like expediting things like writing or data analysis, there are still plenty of downsides to using it. Copyright infringement, plagiarism, and even data breaches are all very real problems that companies can be faced with by using AI without proper checks and balances.

Though Rosewater’s comment was brief, it seems that in the case of Magic: The Gathering, the team is more interested in using AI as a tool for design rather than artwork.

With AI tech still in its infancy, there’s no telling how adept it could become at actually designing strategically sound Magic cards. For now, only time will tell if and how Wizards of the Coast decides to utilize AI for its game design in the future.