Before now, Games Workshop's only flirtation with AI was a controversial Golden Demon winner who used generative AI to create backgrounds for his piece before labeling his critics “virgins” for the crime of wanting hand-painted things in a painting competition. Golden Demon changed its rules to ban the use of generative AI from that point on, but the company's internal stance on the technology has remained unknown — until now.
Games Workshop CEO Kevin Rountree explained the company's outlook on the company's first fiscal earnings call in 2026. “We have some senior managers. [experts on AI]: No one is excited about it yet,' he told investors, 'We have agreed on an internal policy to guide everyone, which is now very cautious. We do not allow AI generated content or the unauthorized use of AI in our design processes or outside of GW in any of our competitions.”
It is noteworthy that Rountree specifies tournaments, despite the fact that the Golden Demon rules have already been changed to ban AI. I think you can't ask ChatGPT to generate your list for the Las Vegas Open, not that it will give you a higher chance of winning. Rountree also doesn't completely rule out the use of AI in the future – he's the CEO of a FTSE 500 company that called investors – but stands behind the creatives at Games Workshop.
Games Workshop has banned AI from Warhammer 40K's design processes to honor its “genius” creators.
Games Workshop does not allow AI to be used in its design process or online competitions.
“We're allowing some of those senior managers to continue to be curious about the technology,” he continues. “We also agreed that we will maintain a strong commitment to protecting our intellectual property and honoring our human creators. During the reporting period, we continued to invest in our Warhammer studio – hiring more creatives across a range of disciplines, from concept and art to writing and sculpting. The talented and passionate people who make Warhammer so rich, we love all the IP.
It all sounds good. While it's fun to take a steaming dump on multinational corporations, it's also important to praise them for making the right decisions. Games Workshop has clearly read the history of Warhammer 40k and doesn't want to risk the hideous intelligence of the men who wield iron power within the company.
Or, I don't know, it just doesn't want to risk its IP being diluted, cannibalized, or both by planet-destroying plagiarism machines. Banning AI is undoubtedly good. But if Games Workshop truly wants to honor its human creators, it still has a long way to go.
Who are the artists behind Warhammer?
Games Workshop has a big problem with crediting its creatives. What began as a reactionary 'hands only' policy has evolved into a wider issue as a result of several members of its video team leaving to start their own YouTube channels.
Just last year, the Warhammer Community Blog posted an article titled 'Warhammer art through the years: Space Marines'. It featured 17 iconic images of the Adeptus Astartes, and I quote, “incredible artists.” What incredible actors, Kevin? What are their names? Who are the creatives you so strongly seek to respect? 40k had such an article for each faction, without credits.
Of course, the person who wrote the blog post wasn't even credited. No one at Games Workshop has been credited with Owlcat Games' hit RPG Rogue Trader, despite the fact that the developer has been open about its collaboration with the IP owner. Individuals who create art or write rules for codices are not credited other than on the brief contents page. Whose art is inside that tome? It is impossible to say.
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It's annoying on a basic moral level – your artists are creating value for your company, so you should give them their due – but Games Workshop is a company built on the shoulders of artists. Where would Warhammer be without the work of John Blanche, Carl Kopinski, Adrian Smith, and hundreds of others? Countless artists have graced the pages of books or magazines over the Games Workshop's 50-year history, and dozens more are worthy of its famed hall of fame.
On the shoulders of titans
I am not unique in the fact that I am personally inspired by the work of John Blanche. From his incredible cover art to White Dwarf's creepy fantasy Blanchitsu column, if I'm lacking inspiration for my Dark Mechanics, I turn to his work. But who will be the next Joan Blanche? It's impossible to say because, despite the Grimdark painters creating iconic artwork for the next generation, Games Workshop won't tell us their names for fear of furthering their careers outside the company.
If I wanted to see more from whoever illustrated the cover of the latest Ad Mech Codex, for example, I wouldn't know where to start. Google AI says it's by Carl Kopinski, which I'm pretty sure is wrong since I know both the algorithm and Kopinski's style. Further research reveals that it is the work of Lewis Jones, but I don't have to channel my inner Eisenhorn to go down an internet rabbit hole to find out who created a piece of art that I find particularly evocative and inspiring in order to tell me directly that a major corporation is presenting it to me.
The real kicker is that Warhammer is a game for artists. Yes, that's all the actors portraying a tiny toy soldier. Every time you slap on a thick layer of Nulan oil, you are creating art. We Warhammer fans – and artists in our own right – want to know who's drawing our codices, who's writing our lore, who's making our miniatures, who's creating the game we love. Warhammer 40k isn't made by a faceless corporate entity, it's the joint effort of dozens, if not hundreds, of creatives iterating on the work of those who came before.
It might seem like a hell of a tangent from Games Workshop that it doesn't use AI – an objectively good policy when thousands of other creative companies have embraced Torment Nexus. But I bristle at the hypocritical feeling that the company wants to be “honored”. [its] Human Creators.” If this really happened, it would shout their names from the roofs of every Hive City's tallest spire and let them take the credit they deserve for creating the cultural behemoth Warhammer is today.
