LocalThunk Defuses AI Art Controversy Ignited by Balatro Erotic Subreddit Moderator

Today in “news that will get you banished from society if you try to explain it to anyone who doesn’t live on the internet,” the owner of an erotic Balatro subreddit has had their moderator status revoked from the main subreddit after a brief civil war surrounding AI generated art culminated with developer LocalThunk intervening. Cheers to Garbage Day for the spot.

Many threads lie dead and buried in the bloody wake of all this, but the brief rundown is that moderator DrTankHead – who also runs r/balatromance – waded into the following thread:

“Is it too much to ask to have a fun subreddit about a fun game that isn’t being held hostage by a horny pro-AI weirdo?…that is too much to ask, isn’t it,” wrote user cherrycokeicee in a now locked thread. Much banana flinging ensued, until Localthunk eventually had to get involved themselves.

“A mod recently changed the flair in this subreddit for AI generated art making it seem like Playstack condones AI art. This was not due to a direct order from Playstack (A Playstack representative told me this) but from a interpretation of a message about enforcing the rules of the subreddit,” they wrote.

“Neither Playstack nor I condone AI ‘art’. I don’t use it in my game, I think it does real harm to artists of all kinds,” Localthunk continued. “The actions of this mod do not reflect how Playstack feels or how I feel on the topic. We have removed this moderator from the moderation team. We will not be allowing AI generated images on this subreddit from now on. We will make sure our rules and FAQ reflect this soon.”

The sub’s rules do indeed now say “No AI generated art or content” underneath the “No low-effort posts/No spam” section.

After having their mod status removed, DrTankHead posted in r/balatroromance, which he hopes will now offer a similar haven for AI art as it historically has for horny posting. “Please just get off Reddit for a week or two,” replied one user.

Localthunk recently took time out from having good opinions in public to post a detailed blog chronicling Balatro’s development timeline.