It seemed like any other announcement from The Pokémon Company. The Pikachu corporation announced it would be launching a touring museum exhibit called The Pokémon Astronomical Observatory in Kanagawa, Japan. The event is set to begin on November 1 and aims to educate visitors on the wonders of the cosmos with the help of Pokémon. Four museums across Japan will host the event over the next year, with the Sagamihara City Museum set to kick things off in November. All of that sounds dope as hell, but the announcement was also accompanied by a piece of promotional art which Pokémon fans suspect might be at least partially AI-generated.
Serebii Update: A new touring museum exhibition has been announced. The Pokémon Astronomical Observatory will begin from November 1st 2025 in Kanagawa, Japan.
Details @ https://t.co/NWlAdn57aQ pic.twitter.com/vJIS2Httjt
— Serebii.net (@SerebiiNet) August 7, 2025
At a glance, you might not suspect that anything could be amiss. In the foreground, we see Pikachu, dressed up in a snazzy little astronomer getup, looking through a telescope at constellations with Cosmog floating above his head. The character art looks great. it’s when you look at the background that things start to seem a bit off.
why is official Pokemon art using AI backgrounds now wtf is this man https://t.co/9mOpXnzVpO pic.twitter.com/PiWd0N6fMn
— Lewtwo (@Lewchube) August 7, 2025
As Pokémon YouTuber Lewtwo points out on X (formerly Twitter), there are several abnormalities to the observatory shown in the background of the piece. It has odd, furnace-like lighting to its interior that frankly looks more ominous than the piece calls for; the architectural structure of the building doesn’t make much sense at all; and some of the structure seems to just melt into the rest of it in a way that seems unlike what any human artist would ever draw and submit for use. If it is AI-generated, it’s a real shame because the foreground character art is genuinely stunning. An alternate piece was also released, which showcases Pikachu with several cosmic Pokémon, who all have ties to the sun and moon. At least in that one, you can’t see the eyesore of an observatory.
Serebii Picture: Alternate special artwork for the Pokémon Astronomical Observatory has been released
Details @ https://t.co/NWlAdn57aQ pic.twitter.com/CTwtbMNY6R
— Serebii.net (@SerebiiNet) August 7, 2025
We’ve reached out to The Pokémon Company for comment and will update the story if we hear back.
This isn’t the first time Pokémon has been suspected of using AI art. Back in 2023, Niantic used art to promote one of the new seasons for Pokémon Go that fans also believed might be AI. In a statement to Kotaku, the studio said it “uses a variety of tools and software to create visual assets,” but said it “[doesn’t] disclose specifics around [its] processes.”
