Prominent esports giant under fire from fans after announcing new team member with 'offensive' video: 'Do better'

Esports giant Gen.G Esports is facing backlash from fans after it used an AI-generated video to announce the latest competitor in its lineup. 

The company announced chess grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi would be joining the organization to compete in chess at the Esports World Cup this year through a 37-second video on its X page, per Esports.gg.

The clip features mostly AI-generated video of Erigaisi doing incredible feats like riding a bull and facing a bear, with a few real clips of the chess player, all set to an '80s-sounding rock ballad (possibly also AI-generated).

Life's too short to make bad moves... so we made a great one

Ranked #4 in the World, he's the most interesting Chess player alive.

Welcome @ArjunErigaisi to Gen.G! pic.twitter.com/TYXSTFkhIG

— Gen.G Esports (@GenG) February 5, 2025

The reactions in the comments were excited for Erigaisi to be part of the team but less than thrilled about the AI video. 

"He is definitely one of the most interesting Chess players alive!! But AI video as an announcement is not cool," one person wrote.

"Disrespect to your audience is one, disrespect to your whole content staff is two. You employ an amazing team of people who are capable of making things 100x more engaging than this. Do better," said another.

"I would be insulted if I were this player," added a third. 

The AI-generated video failed to excite many about Erigaisi's arrival, which is a disappointment in many ways, especially when considering the resources required to produce such a video. 

According to Santa Clara University, researchers have described AI models as "water guzzlers" due to the vast quantities of water needed to cool the data centers that process the images and video. For example, Microsoft used 11.5 million gallons of water in one year to cool its data centers.

Do you worry about companies having too much of your personal data? Absolutely Sometimes Not really I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

And while the video may be amusing to some, many criticized the quality, a frequent issue in AI-based output. The BBC reported that there are many concerns with AI relaying or summarizing information, such as Google's search engine providing inaccurate search results. 

"Generative AI systems are known for their ability to 'hallucinate' and assert falsehoods as fact," the outlet stated.

As one commenter on the video stated, "Life's too short to make bad movies... so please stop."

Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.