It looks like the Gearbox PR team gave Randy Pitchford access to his social media again. After spending much of 2025 arguing with Borderlands 4 players about performance and how video games still haven't gotten their Citizen Kane, Pitchford posted a selfie he made using AI.
Aside from looking nothing like him, the image is filled with Gearbox and Borderlands merch that you'd see in any other dev's office. As expected, the comments are either mocking Pitchford or concerned that this sets a precedent for Gearbox to use generative AI in its games. In true Pitchford fashion, he didn't take it lying down.
Randy Pitchford's AI selfie has some borderline fans worried
“I asked my primary AI tool to generate a selfie that indicated how they felt based on how I interacted with them and what it generated (note: background words were not prompted and have zero relation to anything real),” Pitchford's caption said. Perhaps he forgot to mention the part in the prompt that included “making me look like the most interesting man in the world.”
“I'm going to pretend you didn't post the AI image like it would be well received and focus on that white board that says 'New IP,'” one comment said. “I'm going to pretend you know how to be cool and enjoy stupid things,” Pitchford replied. Normalizing gen-AI will “harm people in your business,” he said, adding, “If you think my tweet is “normalizing generative AI,” you're an idiot. That's exactly what Randy, the CEO of Triple-A Studios who puts AI selfies on.
Several comments pointed out that this sets a dangerous precedent for future games. However, his boilerplate answer was “Our policy is that we do not use AI for anything that can be seen by any customer in any commercial capacity.”
Overall, his answer suggests he was just playing around with it for kicks. “Can't you find any pleasure in stupid and silly things?” No Randy, when people are leaving jobs, the environment is being killed, and creativity is being threatened by AI, people won't find it “stupid and silly”.
- issued
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September 12, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Content, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, User Interaction
