Activision has issued a formal statement addressing the use of artificial intelligence tools in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, confirming that the company employs AI-assisted workflows while making clear that its development process continues to be led by human creatives. The clarification follows a new wave of community debate surrounding certain artwork found in the recently released game.
The publisher said, “Like so many around the world, we use a variety of digital tools, including AI tools, to support our teams to create the best gaming experiences possible for our players. Our creative process continues to be led by the talented individuals in our studios.” This message is in line with the disclosure that appears on Black Ops 7’s Steam page, which notes that the development team uses generative AI tools for “some in-game assets.” The same language appeared last year on the Steam listing for Black Ops 6 and has been repeated across Warzone.
Black Ops 7, which launched on November 14, 2025, is not the first entry in the series to adopt AI-assisted tools. Activision disclosed similar usage during the previous title’s development cycle. According to Treyarch’s Miles Leslie in an earlier IGN interview, these tools are framed internally as support mechanisms meant to “help the team” rather than replace core staff. Leslie also stated that any AI-generated content that had appeared in past games had been “by accident,” and that the studio is responsible for the final touches on all assets.
However, despite the company’s assurances, the degree of AI’s involvement in Black Ops 7 remains a hot topic among players. Several co-op challenge rewards include Ghibli-like calling cards, which some fans claim exhibit the subtle qualities of AI generation. These claims follow an earlier incident in which a Call of Duty loading screen featuring a zombie Santa appeared with six fingers, a common trait of machine-generated imagery. That example became a widely circulated reference point and now serves as a benchmark for evaluating new visual inconsistencies.
At present, none of the questioned assets have been confirmed as AI-generated by Activision or Treyarch. The company has not named which specific items were influenced by generative tools, nor has it explained how much of the overall art pipeline was involved. Current community scrutiny relies largely on visual interpretation rather than concrete evidence. According to multiple reports, noticeable inconsistencies in the latest calling cards are less obvious than in prior controversies, making verification more difficult.
Industry context continues to shape the discussion. Earlier in 2024, Wired reported that an anonymous Activision employee alleged internal pressure on concept artists to use AI tools. Around the same period, a significant wave of layoffs affected 2D art roles, though the company did not say whether those reductions were linked to its AI initiative. Elsewhere in the industry, studios such as Electronic Arts and Embark have experimented with AI prototypes for early development tasks, adding to broader concerns about long-term impacts on creative labor.
