Destiny 2 players are calling out Bungie over alleged AI use in new Dredgen Bael concept art from the latest Renegades ViDoc.
Destiny 2’s next big expansion, Renegades, is just days away, releasing on December 2, 2025. During yesterday’s second developer livestream, Bungie gave fans another look at what to expect, including a new launch trailer and a Renegades ViDoc that walked through the expansion’s setting, activities, and characters.
The ViDoc showed a lot of promising stuff, Lawless Frontier gameplay, progression systems, new gear, and of course, the new story. But along with that excitement came something else entirely. Buried inside that ViDoc was a short segment on Dredgen Bael, the main antagonist of Renegades. Bungie showed a full-body piece of concept art while talking about who Bael is and how he fits into the story. That single image is now the center of the latest community argument around how Bungie handles art.
Over the last few years, Bungie has stumbled several times with art used in both Destiny and Marathon. These include the 2021 Witch Queen trailer featuring fan-made Xivu Arath art, the Season of the Deep cutscene that used an outside artist’s work without permission, the Ace of Spades Nerf collab issue, and the Marathon alpha controversy, where fan textures were found inside the game files. All of these led to apologies and promises of better checks
Now, it looks like the studio has found itself back in another heated discussion.
Destiny 2 Renegades Dredgen Bael concept art and the AI accusations
In the Renegades ViDoc, the Dredgen Bael concept art shows the character from both front and back, with a hooded red coat, hanging chains, and some kind of electronic device on the chest. After the video went live, X user MGecko117 posted the image with a long breakdown, arguing that the art shows strong signs of generative AI.
The user said they are “pretty certain that Bungie is using AI art for the Renegades expansion” and described the Dredgen Bael piece as having “unmistakable signs for AI-generated art.” They also stressed that they usually avoid calling out AI art at all, which is part of why this blew up so quickly.
“If you’ve been following me for a long time, you know I never do AI art callouts because I really dislike any kind of drama,” MGecko117 said. “However, I’m pretty certain that Bungie is using AI art for the Renegades expansion. This is the concept art for Dredgen Bael they showed during the Renegades development vidoc, and it has a lot of unmistakable signs for AI-generated art. (I can do a more detailed breakdown of the artwork if people have more doubts and questions)
“If there’s anything I respect about Bungie, it’s that I think they have some of the best artists in the industry who genuinely seem to care about what they are making. This really makes me wonder what’s happening internally at Bungie if my judgment is correct.”
In a follow-up post, they shared a detailed breakdown of the concept art, highlighting issues they believe line up with AI output, weird artifacting, and stuff like that:
- Chains that change shape or turn into random fabric folds
- Two different rendering styles between the front and back poses
- Electronics on the chest piece that look warped
- A sleeve turning into a cuff
- A double-hand visual on one arm
- A lightsaber that appears from nowhere
- General texture inconsistencies that resemble AI-generated art
Check out the breakdown below.
The post has been picked up across X, with players debating if this is actually AI, photobashing, or just rough concept art that was never meant to be examined frame by frame. For now, Bungie has not issued any public statement on the Bael art or the AI claims. We will update this story if a statement is released.
It’s also worth noting that some concept art, especially early passes, often uses photobashing. Artists mix real photos, 3D models, and rough paint-overs to explore ideas fast. That can lead to odd seams, mismatched lighting, and other weird details, especially in early passes.
Bungie has released rough concept art before that had uneven textures or mismatched shading, so there is a real chance this is just a messy mashup rather than an AI-generated image.
Still, because of Bungie’s Marathon situation earlier this year, where the studio confirmed that a former artist copied work from a fan and put it into the game, players are naturally looking at every new piece of art with more scrutiny.
This is one of those moments where communication from the studio would go a long way. Until then, the debate is only going to grow.
What do you think after looking at the breakdown? Do the details look like AI mistakes, or is this just rough concept art catching people off guard? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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