As generative AI use continues to enmesh itself deeper and deeper into the entertainment industry, one titan is putting a power-armored foot down and saying no.
During the release of its half-year sales report, Games Workshop revealed that, seemingly unlike most other companies seeking to run into the open maw of AI slop, it was taking what it described as a “very cautious” approach to the technology by banning its use in any stage of the design process of its art and sculpture work for its wildly successful range of Warhammer tabletop miniatures.
“We do have a few senior managers that are [experts in AI]: none are that excited about it yet,” chief executive Kevin Rountree said while presenting the report (via Financial Times), which saw revenue for the six months leading to the end of November 2025 almost $44 million higher compared with the same period in 2024, despite a reduction in licensing profit (we’re still waiting for three new major Warhammer video games, including Total War: Warhammer 40K, Dawn of War IV, and a new sequel to Space Marine) and accounting for an approximately $16 million hit due to new US tariffs.
“We have agreed on an internal policy to guide us all, which is currently very cautious, e.g., we do not allow AI-generated content or AI to be used in our design processes or its unauthorized use outside of GW, including in any of our competitions,” Rountree continued (via IGN). “We also have to monitor and protect ourselves from a data compliance, security, and governance perspective, as the AI or machine learning engines seem to be automatically included on our phones or laptops whether we like it or not.”
It’s a fitting move, given the lore of Warhammer 40,000. Although there are factions of the Imperium of Man that prescribe faith to technology, such as the Adeptus Mechanicus’ belief in the Omnissiah, a machine god believed to divinely empower all technology used by the Imperium, artificial intelligence itself, known as the Silica Animus, is treated as heresy and expressly forbidden by Imperial Law.
Although Games Workshop itself isn’t exactly declaring total tech heresy yet—it will allow some senior management to be “inquisitive” about the technology—the ban coincides with what Rountree described as “a strong commitment to protect our intellectual property and respect our human creators.”
“In the period reported, we continued to invest in our Warhammer Studio—hiring more creatives in multiple disciplines from concepting and art to writing and sculpting. Talented and passionate individuals that make Warhammer the rich, evocative IP that our hobbyists and we all love,” Rountree concluded.
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Source: Gizmodo