TLDR: A fan art contest for Street Fighter 6 has been thrown into disarray due to accusations of participants using AI to generate their submissions and plagiarizing existing artwork. Capcom has since disqualified one of the winning entries for violating contest rules.
The second ‘Street Fighter Art Contest: New Challenger Edition’ for the popular game Street Fighter 6 has been marred by significant controversy following allegations of artificial intelligence (AI) generated art and plagiarism among winning entries. Capcom, the game’s developer, recently announced the winners of the contest, which aimed to incorporate fan-created artwork into the game’s ‘Here Comes a New Challenger’ screen.
However, the community quickly raised concerns, particularly regarding the winning submission for the character Kimberly. An X (formerly Twitter) user named ‘hoodratt20xx’ compiled a detailed Google Doc outlining what they believed were telltale signs of AI use in the winning Kimberly entry, as well as other submissions. Another user, Galena_Bismon, shared a similar analysis. The artist behind the controversial Kimberly piece, identified as ‘lilithascends’ on X, subsequently deleted all their social media accounts as the accusations gained traction, which many interpreted as an admission of guilt. Further investigations by fans revealed that the ‘lilithascends’ account was created in June 2025, the same month the contest began, and that the artwork exhibited inconsistencies and irregular shapes indicative of AI generation. Moreover, other entries by ‘lilithascends’ for characters like Akuma and Cammy appeared to have plagiarized existing works by other artists, including Chun Lo and Hungry Clicker.
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Capcom has since issued a statement, confirming the disqualification of one of the winning entries. The company stated, ‘Unfortunately, we have determined that one of the winning entries violated contest rules, specifically Section 5 pertaining to: Entry Submission and Design Requirements.’ This section explicitly prohibits the use of AI and mandates that designs must be the entrant’s original creative work that has not been previously published or entered into other competitions. While the disqualified entry will remain available for voting in the Battle Hub until the end of the voting period, Capcom has committed to providing a replacement illustration for the featured character at a later date. This incident is not isolated, as similar controversies involving AI-generated art have affected other video game-related art contests, such as a Pokemon Trading Card Game art contest in June of the previous year, where multiple entries were disqualified for rule violations.
