LEGO caught using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate fake Ninjago images

March 15, 2024 | 18

LEGO Ninjago fans have uncovered some deeply troubling evidence of The LEGO Group engaging in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create some really questionable images on the LEGO website.

First spotted on Twitter by @legoanimegirl, a new Ninjago character quiz featuring Kai on the LEGO Kids section sees plenty of very obviously AI-generated art of Ninjago that just looks plain bizarre and weird.

Update: As of 830pm AEDT, 1030am CET, the site in question has now been taken down.

Update 2: No official LEGO comment yet, but LEGO Ninjago co-creator Tommy Andreasen weighs in on Twitter. “Art should be made by artists.”

Update 3: LEGO issues an official statement on the use of AI in this instance.

We have a clear policy not to use generative AI to create LEGO® content. We fundamentally believe in the wonder and power of human creativity and will continue to encourage and celebrate the talented artists who help bring our brand and characters to life.

These images were used in a test which happened outside of our usual approval processes, and we will take all necessary steps to ensure that it won’t happen again.

We believe generative AI offers interesting opportunities and we will continue to explore how we can use it to improve the experiences we offer and our ways of working. 

Note: the middle image used was generated by myself using ChatGPT. Jay’s Brick Blog does not use AI for any of our content, reviews or news articles. You can count on me to disclose any use of AI content.

Clicking on the Ninja Quiz, you’re immediately greeted by some very obviously AI-generated artwrok of what seems to be a stylised Kai minifigure. The problem with AI art generation in its current form is that it’s not that good, and you can easily pick out weird quirks in the photo such as the elongated neck, overly detailed hair-piece and bizarre proportions.

This is what Kai looks like in Dragons Rising… you know, animated and created by actual artists.

As the quiz proceeds… things start veering into even weirder and more ethically questionable territory.

Here’s the image in question. Notice anything strange about Kai?

Yup, he’s wearing a Naruto headband which is not an IP (intellectual property) that LEGO works on, and this exposes the ethical and legal concerns surrounding AI-generated imagery. The prompt was to clearly generate a Ninjago LEGO minifigure in specific colours, but whatever AI program used was likely trained on Naruto imagery, and spat this out.

Even more concerning is that no one in the team responsible for this picked this up at all, and decided to release this out into the world.

I highly doubt Naruto gave permission to LEGO for using one of Naruto’s most recognisable elements in this weird Ninjago marketing material.

In case this Ninja Quiz gets deleted or nuked from the internet, I’ve screenshotted all the imagery here for reference.

And if you want to marvel at this hilariously bad AI Ninjago art being passed off as official, here are all the images saved from the Ninja Quiz.

I have so many questions. Do these count as official LEGO Ninjago imagery? Is the wider LEGO Ninjago team aware of this? Is it okay to use AI images to market towards children in a section of the website that’s clearly meant for kids?

Why is this a bad thing? For one, any undisclosed use of artificial intelligence is widely seen to be as misleading, and for a community and fanbase as vibrant as LEGO Ninjago, it leaves a really sour taste for fans.

I think this is a very valid response by fans. There is a lot of love that goes into LEGO Ninjago, and plenty of artists that work on the designs, from the sets, to the animated series, to even things like comic books.

Look at all these beautiful pieces of art on Skybound’s Garmadon comic book series.

Or you know the hardworking animators, illustrators and designers that work on Dragons Rising.

And turns out, fans really dislike the use of AI in marketing material, especially when it’s not explicitly disclosed.

Earlier this year, Wizards of the Coast courted controversy after passing off Magic: The Gathering AI-images as human-made, which annoyed WOTC’s legions of fans, and artists, and were forced to issue a statement on their use of AI.

LEGO has so far not made any statements on the use of AI, or what their policy in general is, so it’s hard to know whether something like this is condoned in a corporate sense, or if it’s a rogue once-off test project.

I’ve reached out to LEGO for a statement on this via the LEGO Ambassador Network and will update accordingly when/if The LEGO Group says anything about their policy on AI, and whether they’ll be adopting disclosures whenever AI is used.

Let’s also remember that The LEGO Group like most other big brands these days, are fully embracing Artificial Intelligence in their organisation, and have been on a AI hiring spree in recent years.

There’s even a current job opening for a Senior AI Engineer!

Personally, I’m a big fan of AI and see the potential in the use of these tools. That said, I do not condone the use of AI, and have real concerns about the creative works of artists, writers and more whose content has been ingested and used in training these various AI models that litter the web.

Which is precisely why I don’t use AI to create content on the blog, because I don’t think AI will ever replace the creative work of artists, writers and creatives.

Case in point: in the wrong hands, you get weird LEGO Ninjago x Naruto copyright issues like these that frankly… just look bad compared to all the other things Ninjago puts out.

For a more nuanced read on the collision of AI and the LEGO Community, check out this piece on Bricknerd which goes into a lot more detail.

What do you think of the use of AI? Would you like to see LEGO use more AI, or steer clear away from this tool for creative endeavours?

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