With the sudden advent of cheap, easy-to-use AI art and text generators that are changing the way various creative fields go about their business, ethical and legal issues surrounding the use of computer-generated work are becoming increasingly common and heated. RPG publisher Paizo, creator of scout And star findertook a tough stance against AI-generated work with posts on social media and the company’s blog Commitment to the “work of human professionals” and promise of a contractual ban on AI-generated art and text.
There have been many questions about the future of AI art and text in the TTRPG industry. The short answer is: Paizo stands with artists and writers. pic.twitter.com/7G0Xj3HvuH
— Paizo (@paizo) March 1, 2023
Paizo, which became the first tabletop roleplaying game company to unionize in 2021, has previously taken creator-leaning positions, including committing to an Open Game License (OGL) litigation that was made scout and many other Dungeons & Dragons-inspired games possible and promise to help create and support an open-source “system-independent license” that could replace the OGL if Dungeons & Dragons’ owners, Wizards of the Coast, take over the license changes.
In the new posts, Paizo says it’s changing its contracts to add voice to ensure all content is created by humans, not machines, and plans to ban AI-generated work from its community marketplaces as well .
In recent months, the world has witnessed a tremendous increase in interest, usage and quality of algorithm-generated images and text. Since we founded the company in 2002, Paizo has built its reputation with the support of countless traditional artists and writers who are as integral to the success of our games as our in-house editors, art directors, designers and developers. The ethical and legal issues surrounding “AI art” and program writing—and the serious threats to the livelihoods of partners who have helped us get to where we are as a company today—demand that we resolutely oppose the use of this technology in Paizo products.
In the coming days, Paizo will be adding new wording to its creative contracts that will state that all work submitted to us for publication will be created by a human. We will be adding more guidance to our Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite program FAQs clarifying that AI-generated content is not allowed in any of the community content marketplaces.
Our clients expect a human touch from our releases, and while the ethical and legal issues surrounding these programs remain unclear and undefined, we are unwilling to associate our brands with the technology in any way.
Simply put – when you buy a Paizo product you can be sure that it is the work of human professionals who have spent years honing their craft to do the best job possible. Paizo will not be using any AI-generated “creative” work of any kind for the foreseeable future.
We thank the human artists and writers who have been so integral to our success in the past, and we look forward to working with them for many more years to come.
The problem of recognizing AI-created art and text remains, along with the difficulty of Moderating a flood of new AI-generated content. For now, the Paizo Statement is more about intent and creator rights than execution. But given the conversations now underway about how easy it is to mimic the distinctive creative styles of human artists with AI, a strong, specific guideline sends a powerful message that other companies are likely to pick up on in the near future.
