I'm am one of the original programmers from Ensemble Studios.
I've heard of the game being used for something like a few times over the years.
If I recall correctly, back in the day (around 1999-2002) we received a few requests for a customized version of Age of Kings to support whatever it was they were doing - be it adding extra data output (like a log file detailing every combat step), fixing the random number seeds so slightly different scenario could have the exact same random number sequence used or some additional feature to the scenario editor.
I think (and again my memory is hazy on this so I could be wrong) we actually did produce one, and maybe a second, custom build of the game for use in an academic / research setting.
What's "so special" abou this is that Getty is one of the largest single copyright holders in the world and they know the licensing status of every piece of media in their collection, so any AI trained on those images is guaranteed liability-free for their clients."
the monetization schema is bullshit - it looks like the tiktok model where there's a giant pool of money split between all the creators every year with the size of that pool determined by "business growth" (ie in a way that prioritized the business and hands the remains to the creators) PLUS bits of the youtube model of constantly shifting goals and targets to keep planning ability for its creators at a minimum - but if you want to know why this AI that rips off artists is "better" than the rest, that's why.
ARS' spin is fucking gross, nothing in the actual article says anything close to what that headline is implying.
An authority is a person who can tell you more about something than you really care to know.