So far, Games Workshop's only flirtation with AI was the controversial Golden Demon winner, which used generative AI to create the background for its piece before calling its critics “virgins” for the crime of wanting hand-painted stuff in a painting competition. Golden Demon has since changed its rules to ban the use of generative AI, but the company's internal stance on the technology has remained unknown—until now.
Games Workshop CEO Kevin Rountree explained the company's position on the company's first financial earnings call in 2026. “We have several senior executives who are [experts on AI]: nobody's that excited about it yet,” he tells investors. We don't allow AI or AI-generated content to be used in our design processes or their unauthorized use outside of GW, including in any of our contests.”
It's notable that Rountree specifies contests, despite the fact that the Golden Demon rules have already been changed to ban AI. I don't think you can ask ChatGPT to generate your list for the Las Vegas Open anymore, not that it would give you a better chance of winning. Nor is Rountree completely ruling out the use of artificial intelligence in the future – after all, he is the CEO of a FTSE 500 company calling investors – but he is behind the creatives at Games Workshop.
Games Workshop disabled AI in Warhammer 40K's design processes to respect its “talented” creators
Games Workshop does not allow the use of artificial intelligence in its design processes or online competitions.
“We're allowing those few senior executives to continue to be interested in technology,” he continues. “We also agreed to maintain a strong commitment to protecting our intellectual property and respecting our human creators. In the period under review, we continued to invest in our Warhammer Studio – hiring more creatives across disciplines from concept and art to writing and sculpting. Talented and passionate individuals who make Warhammer the rich, evocative IP that our fans and we all love.”
This all sounds great. While it's fun to lash out at multinational corporations, it's also important to applaud them for making the right decisions. Games Workshop has clearly read the history of Warhammer 40k and does not want to risk the power within the company being seized by the hideous intelligence of men of iron.
Or, I don't know, he doesn't want to risk his IP being diluted, cannibalized, or both by planet-destroying plagiarism machines. Banning AI is undoubtedly good. But if Games Workshop really wants to respect its human creators, it still has a long way to go.
Who are the artists behind Warhammer?
Games Workshop has a big problem with giving credit to their creatives. What started as a reactionary 'OnlyHands' policy due to several members of his video team leaving to start their own YouTube channels has evolved into a much wider issue.
Just last year, the Warhammer Community Blog published an article titled “Warhammer Art Through the Years: Space Marines”. It featured 17 iconic images of the Adeptus Astartes by, quote, “incredible artists”. What incredible artists, Kevin? what are their names? Who are the creatives you want to respect so much? There was an article like this, uncredited, for every faction for 40k.
Of course, the person who wrote the blog post was also not listed. No one from Games Workshop has been credited for Owlcat Games' hit RPG Rogue Trader, despite the fact that the developer has been open about working with the IP owner. The people who create the art or write the rules and lore for the Codexes are not listed except on the brief contents page. Whose art is in that volume? Impossible to say.
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It's annoying on a basic ethical level – your artists create value for your company, so you should give them their rewards – but Games Workshop is a company built on the shoulders of artists. Where would Warhammer be without the work of John Blanch, Karel Kopinski, Adrian Smith and hundreds of others? Countless artists have graced the pages of books or magazines over Games Workshop's 50-year history, and dozens deserve a place in its storied hall of fame.
On the shoulders of the Titans
I am not unique in that I am personally inspired by the work of John Blanche. From his incredible cover art to Blanchits darkly imaginative column in White Dwarf, if I'm ever lacking inspiration for my Dark Mechanic, I look back at his work. But who will be the next John Blanche? There's no telling, because even if there was a grimdark painter creating iconic artwork for the next generation, Games Workshop wouldn't tell us their name for fear of them advancing their careers outside of 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's AI says it's by Karel Kopinski, which I'm sure is wrong from what I know of both the algorithm and Kopinski's style. Further research indicates that it is the work of Lewis Jones, but I shouldn't channel my inner Eisenhorn to go down the internet rabbit hole just to find out who created a piece of art that I find particularly evocative and inspiring, presented to me by a large corporation with the means to tell me directly.
The real kicker is that Warhammer is a game for artists. Yes, anyone who paints a little soldier is an artist. Every time you slap on a thick layer of Nuln Oil, you are creating art. As Warhammer fans – and artists in our own right – we want to know who's illustrating our codexes, who's writing our lore, who's sculpting our miniatures, who's actually creating the game we love. Warhammer 40k is not created by an anonymous corporate entity, it is the combined effort of dozens if not hundreds of creatives iterating on the work of those who came before.
This may seem like a hell of a tangent from Games Workshop saying it won't use AI – an objectively good policy when thousands of other creative companies are adopting Torment Nexus. But I am embarrassed by the hypocritical sentiment that society wants to “respect [its] human creators.” If that were indeed the case, it would shout their names from the highest tower rooftops in every Hive City and let them get the credit they deserve for creating the cultural behemoth that Warhammer is today.
