Koji Fox Faced Backlash Over AI at FFXIV Fan Fest
Final Fantasy 14′s 2026 North American Fan Fest was this weekend in California, and overall, it went well. However, during the event, Koji Fox faced backlash over AI.
While fans were thrilled to see that the next big expansion for the MMO, Evercold, will drop in January 2027, fans were not excited to see AI-generated art while showcasing the expansion. The art was displayed during a panel by Square Enix localizer Christopher Koji Fox, which bummed fans out.
The panel titled, From Tacos to Tenders: Serving up the Lyrics of FFXIV, used AI art in images and videos instead of work from actual artists, which many are pointing out would have cost less and would have taken less work than using AI. The two-hour-long stream is available online, though it’s a hard watch for super fans.
When the panel started, Koji Fox asked “Copilot-kun” to create a sample music video, complete with “lalafell,” which can be seen above, that is obviously AI slop. The crowd, which started out excited, quickly turned silent at the images. Later in the panel, Fox showed AI fake representations of the various musicle artst who FF14 works were being celebrated in the panel.
Later in the panel, Koji Fox explained the decision for using AI, saying that “due to time constraints, I wasn’t able to get permission to use official photos.”
“And, because our CEO has been keen on incorporating AI tools into our daily work, I decided to create an AI approximation of the famous artist that we’ve worked with on The Primals… and I did this to much success. And by much success, I mean no success.”
While Koji Fox has been hit with a lot of backlash with this, some outlets, like The Gamer, have a different perspective. According to The Gamer, “This might not have been a comedic roast of Kiryu’s stance on the subject, and I emphasize that because I absolutely do not want to put words in your mouth, Koji Fox.” But of course, as mentioned, we have no way of knowing whether this was an authentic attempt to incorporate AI or an effort to prove that it’s not needed in the gaming industry.
I'm at the show live, and the room which was mostly laughs went really quiet save for some very audible groans of disgust. I think onlykme 3 people laughed as intended. Wasn't the move at all by Koji
— Emii | Fanfest Enjoyer (@heartofzodiark.bsky.social) April 25, 2026 at 4:35 PM
On the other hand, fans are disappointed, with one user on BlueSky saying, “I’m at the show live, and the room which was mostly laughs went really quiet save for some very audible groans of disgust. I think [only] 2 people laughed as intended. Wasn’t the move at all by Koji.”
No matter the intention, the response is clear: No one wants AI in their video games.
