Epic Games project management director Dan Walsh confirms that Epic won't be making the effort to stop Fortnite creators from using AI-generated thumbnails, due in part because Walsh believes that generated AI content will "become more and more difficult to detect."
In an interview with Mustard Plays (spotted by Eurogamer), Walsh and executive vice president Sax Persson were both insistent that Epic itself wouldn't be using generative AI in its own creations such as Fortnite skins, but that when it comes to user's content, Epics' concerns are more geared towards whether the content is "compliant with [its] rules," rather than being concerned with how the users made that content.
"From our perspective, for moderation, thumbnails - like, we don't really care what tool you use to make your thumbnails," Walsh said. "All we care about is whether or not it's compliant with our rules."
"I think to some degree AI is going to become more and more difficult to detect," Walsh continued. "It's not going to stand out as a unique thing, it's just going to be another tool that people are using to create things."
"So trying to look for that specifically is going to become increasingly difficult to the point where it's probably going to become unenforceable. We're really just focused on - 'does this asset comply with our rules, yes or no?', not 'what tool did you use to make this asset'?"
Generative AI is becoming more prevalent across the industry, with every major company and creator trying to figure out where it fits, if it does, in their process. Larian Studio boss Swen Vincke recently commented that, in his view, generative AI might be able to make the "baseline" of what people can make go up, but it won't replace artists, and that if you tried to use generative AI for everything, you won't have a competitive advantage.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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