The incident unfolded on the Balatro subreddit, where DrTankHead—then a moderator of the official r/Balatro board and currently a mod of an NSFW Balatro community—stated that AI art would be permitted in both subreddits as long as it was clearly labeled. In a now-deleted post, the moderator wrote: “We will not be banning AI art here, if it is properly claimed and tagged as such,” adding that this decision followed discussions with Playstack, the game’s publisher.

Localthunk quickly responded via Bluesky, clarifying that this sentiment did not reflect their views or those of Playstack. The developer then took to the subreddit directly to set the record straight. In a statement, Localthunk said: “Neither Playstack nor I condone AI 'art'. I don't use it in my game, I think it does real harm to artists of all kinds. The actions of this mod do not reflect how Playstack feels or how I feel on the topic. We have removed this moderator from the moderation team.”

Furthermore, the developer confirmed that AI-generated imagery would no longer be permitted on the official subreddit moving forward, and that updated rules and FAQs would soon be published to make this policy abundantly clear.

In a follow-up, Playstack’s communications director acknowledged that the existing rule—requiring only that AI content be unlabeled—may have been ambiguously worded, potentially leading to misinterpretation. The remaining moderation team has committed to revising the guidelines for greater clarity going forward.

DrTankHead later posted in the NSFW Balatro subreddit, confirming their removal from the main board. They also noted that making the NSFW subreddit an AI-centric space was not their intention, but hinted at possibly implementing a weekly schedule where non-NSFW AI-created artwork could be shared.

One commenter humorously suggested, “Please just get off Reddit for a week or two,” highlighting the community’s mixed feelings about the entire ordeal.

AI-generated content remains a divisive subject across the entertainment and gaming industries, especially amid widespread layoffs and growing concerns over artistic integrity, intellectual property rights, and the general quality of machine-generated output. For instance, Keywords Studios attempted to develop an experimental title entirely using AI—but ultimately failed, citing the technology’s inability to replace skilled human talent.

Despite these challenges, major studios continue to explore generative AI tools. EA has declared AI to be “the very core” of its business strategy, while Capcom recently revealed it’s experimenting with generative AI to assist in crafting the vast number of environmental assets needed for modern games. Activision, too, admitted to utilizing generative AI for certain assets in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, including a controversial zombie Santa loading screen that fans derided as “AI slop.”