Artificial Intelligence is undeniably one of the largest revolutions in technology taking place in real-time. The potential that AI offers, once the rough start has been worked out, is something that society has never seen before. The technology is already capable of a lot, and many people trust it with all kinds of tasks.
That said, AI shouldn’t be trusted with absolutely everything. More complicated concepts still manage to stump artificial intelligence. Magic: The Gathering happens to be one of the most complicated games in the world. Forget AI, even people struggle to understand how to exactly resolve more complex ruling issues.
Sadly, the troubles AI has giving correct answers can make tools like Google’s AI overview rather dangerous. Rather than being a force for good to help summarize what you want to know, this technology often provides flat-out incorrect answers. Unless you’re willing to dig deeper, this presents a huge problem for players grappling with MTG’s immense complexity.
Too Complex for AI
For better or worse, this isn’t the first time that AI has struggled to properly comprehend Magic: The Gathering. If you’ve ever seen the work of RoboRosewater and RoboRosewater_Masters it’s clear that AI can’t reliably create functional MTG cards. Just look at cards like Soothing Panister if you want a fresh example of how much the technology struggles to get it right.
While broken junk text cards are mostly inoffensive and purely humorous, AI can be a lot more dangerous. Google’s AI Overview technology, presents some real problems that could actually affect the outcome of your games. If you’ve ever searched up an MTG ruling, there’s a non-zero chance Google’s ‘helpful’ AI has offered you an answer ahead of everything else.
Unfortunately, as Reddit user Artist_X recently discovered, Google’s AI Overview isn’t always as helpful as you might hope. When asking “Does Confusion in the Ranks trigger itself,” the software gave a completely incorrect answer. Worse than just giving a slightly wrong answer, the AI software seems to have completely misunderstood the card and its effects.
For reference, Confusion in the Ranks does indeed trigger itself upon entry. This information is provided by Wizards of the Coast themselves, via Gatherer. Typically when a card has some complex rules surrounding its interactions, Gatherer will have a section entirely dedicated to the card’s correct rulings. If you want to make sure you know how a card works, Gatherer is usually the first safe port of call.
While Confusion in the Ranks might not be the most popular MTG card, this mistake from Google’s AI Overview is damning. The fact that Confusion in the Ranks triggers upon entry allows you to actively steal an opponent’s Enchantment, which is hugely important. Sadly, this mistake is just the tip of the iceberg.
A Pervasive Problem
Following this issue being pointed out on Reddit, many MTG players weren’t surprised to see Google’s AI Overview struggling. Even outside of MTG rulings, this technology has been known to be frequently incorrect. Turns out that scraping the internet for answers and then mushing everything together doesn’t always make for prudent fact-finding.
Showing the extent of the problem, SmokeyXIII commented, “Google AI told me that the enemy flying creature couldn’t block my ground creature.” Once again, this demonstrates that Google’s AI overview has a flagrant misunderstanding of Magic’s rules. For the life of us we can’t even understand where it’s getting this incorrect information from which is especially worrying.
All this is to say that you should never listen to Google’s AI Overview, especially not for Magic: The Gathering rulings. Sometimes, as SmokeyXIII’s screenshot shows, it can kind of know what it’s talking about, but its ultimate answer can still be wrong. The AI’s misunderstanding of even simple topics should hopefully be enough of a red flag to steer clear of it for good.
Finding Actual Answers
Given how complex MTG is, it’s understandable that you may need some clarification around rulings at some point. Should you be in this situation, there are many reliable places to find honest and accurate answers. As mentioned before, a good first port of call is Gatherer, since this has official information from Wizards of the Coast.
Admittedly, while Gatherer can be a valuable tool, it won’t tell you every possible interaction between two cards. As a result, it can often be a good idea to simply search for the exact problem/interaction/question you have. When doing this, you’ll just have to look past Google’s AI Overview as chances are it’ll hinder, rather than help, you.
Thankfully, even with MTG’s immense depth, ruling questions are rarely brand-new, never-before-seen interactions. As a result, it’s likely that someone somewhere has asked your exact question before. This means there should already be a forum or Reddit thread dedicated to your exact problem that has the answer inside. If there isn’t, you can always post your question online to places like r/mtgrules to get an answer, albeit more slowly.
In an ideal world, the perfect solution is to ask an MTG judge. If anyone is going to know how one card works, or about a reaction between two, it’ll be a Magic judge who knows the rules inside and out. Unfortunately, MTG judges aren’t often available around your kitchen table, as they’re typically only found at Local Game Stores and tournaments.
Ultimately, the main takeaway is that you should always avoid any AI-generated answer about MTG rules. Even when asking a simple question, there’s a non-zero chance it’ll get it wrong. Instead, you’re much better off finding answers from real human people, especially since Magic players are a knowledgeable bunch.