The First Descenant appears to be using fake AI streamers in its advertisements

The modern gaming industry is no stranger to using artificial intelligence in advertising materials, but this move by The First Descendant publisher Nexon brings AI in advertising to bizarre new dimensions. In adverts released on Tiktok, the publisher appears to be using AI to generate inauthentic (and honestly, not terribly convincing) videos of streamers promoting the game, including one which seems to be based on a real streamer, apparently without his consent.

The AI ads are worse than you think
byu/iHardlyTriHard inTheFirstDescendant

These The Last Descendant adverts have been collated on Reddit by u/iHardlyTriHard, all of which demonstrate some telltale signs of being artificially generated. The awkward machine monotone speech, locked-off, stiff movements and thousand-yard stare are particular giveaways. Using fake people to promote your game is underhanded and sort of creepy enough. However, it is taken to another level with the first of those AI streamers used in the video seemingly using the likeness of a real streamer (specifically, DanieltheDemon). The advert for The First Descendant do not credit him and there are no sponsored videos or signs of any sort of official collaboration on DanieltheDemon’s social media pages. As such, it seems a safe assumption that this borrowing of his likeness was not done with permission.

With The First Descendant’s reception stuck at Mixed on Steam at time of writing, perhaps the publisher couldn’t find any real streamers willing to lend their credibility to promote the game. That doesn’t make fabricating fake streamers (or in particular faking an endorsement by a real one) remotely acceptable. As AI video generation continues to improve and become more difficult to distinguish from real life, many advertisers (both inside and outside the video game industry) are finding it more appealing to use AI over hiring actual actors and influencers. Until legislation catches up with the technology and starts to properly regulate it, it is unlikely that this will be the last we will see of marketing tactics like this.

It appears that Nexon is trying to tamp down on criticism whenever attention is drawn to one of these adverts. According to comments on the Reddit post, The First Descendant’s publisher has been deleting and reuploading the adverts whenever they get too much negative attention and are deleting comments. Nexon (nor Danielthedemon) have commented on the backlash yet.