Are Card Companies Using AI to Design its Cards?

A Downtown insert from 2024 Panini Donruss Football is sparking a conversation on how trading cards are designed and the implications of using artificial intelligence.

Image Courtesy of eBay hoss.cards

A post on X took a critical look at Panini’s latest versions of its popular Downtown inserts. A dual Downtown of the Atlanta Falcons’ Bijan Robinson and Michael Penix has a distorted image of a football field in the background. 

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I’m convinced that 99% of this design is AI generated.

To me, that makes it 99% less desirable as a collectible. The football field is all wrong. Really @PaniniAmerica?@CardPurchaser @itsgeoffwilson @cllctMedia pic.twitter.com/eWWY1htS2L

— SlabDaBase (@SlabDaBase) February 5, 2025

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The field, seen from a vertical viewpoint, also has vertical yard markers, which if done accurately, should be going in a horizontal direction. The image has some of the markers of early Artificial Images produced by startups like ChatGPT that depicted people with irregular facial expressions and six fingers. 

Some ugly AI art I found being sold today.. She's got SIX FINGERS pic.twitter.com/egv6UbSY6y

— Bailey (end my suffering) (@HibiscusTaco) November 9, 2024

A look at other Downtown cards from this Panini release has the same style of art found in the Falcons card. But none seem to have the mistakes that the Robinson and Penix dual Downtown card does. In addition to the strange yard lines, the Nike logo on both players is backwards on their right shoulders, and Penix's left Adidas cleat has its logo backwards.

The design of the Washington Mall seems to have a similar layout to the Falcons' football field. Was this card design AI-generated? | Image Courtesy of eBay

The criticism from users on X doesn’t necessarily stem from the use of AI but from the lack of oversight to fix the inaccurate pictures generated by AI. Who's supervising and clearing the final design? It's near-certain that AI has been used in the past to create card designs. It's a tool artists use to generate ideas or give them a start.  

However, the small controversy highlights whether computer-generated images devalue modern cards, unlike vintage favorites that were once made entirely by hand, i.e., 1953 Topps Baseball.

Whatever the case, the image's source isn't hurting the Falcons Downtown card in question. The /10 GOLD DUAL DOWNTOWN MICHAEL PENIX JR/BIJAN ROBINSON /10 has 39 bids with a high bid of $1,225.