WotC Updates D&D's AI Policy After YouTuber's False Accusations

This awesome art by Nestor Ossandón is not AI​

Following a YouTuber falsely accusing an artist who worked for WotC of using AI based on "something feeling off" in a widely watched (but now deleted) video, Wizards of the Coast has updated its AI policy.

For 50 years, D&D has been built on the innovation, ingenuity, and hard work of talented people who sculpt a beautiful, creative game. That isn't changing. Our internal guidelines remain the same with regards to artificial intelligence tools: We require artists, writers, and creatives contributing to the D&D TTRPG to refrain from using AI generative tools to create final D&D products. We work with some of the most talented artists and creatives in the world, and we believe those people are what makes D&D great.

The YouTuber in question is Taron Pounds, username 'Indestructoboy', and made his now deleted video because, in his words, 'something felt incredibly off'. He's an ENnie-winning game designer, and has since posted an apology on Twitter:

I contributed to "rage bait" content this year after the OGL situation. That's on me. If I was frustrated by a situation, I felt compelled to say something to the camera. That's just not okay. I bought in hard on the "anti-WotC" train and should have just put my energy elsewhere.

Rage-bait videos are a problematic part of not just the D&D community, but on YouTube in general--as a massive Doctor Who fan, my YouTube feed is full of similar stuff about that show. The D&D stuff I see is overwhelmingly negative about how D&D is dying (it isn't, by the way). Unfortunately, that's what YouTube incentivises, and that's what gets the thousands of clicks: video thumbnails with big text, a controversial statement or question, probably a big shocked face, and a giant question mark or arrow, or maybe a jagged cartoony graph trending downwards. It's important to realise that just because that's what gets the clicks, it doesn't make it true. It is, however, a massive part of what drives the community narrative at the moment.

A shout-out should go to Christian Hoffer, who took the time to actually email the artist in question, who confirmed--with evidence--that the art was completely human generated. The YouTuber did not even make that basic step. You can read his report on Twitter here (and you should follow him if you're still on that site). The artist in question is Nestor Ossandón, who responded to Hoffer as follows.

First of all, I do not use artificial intelligence (NOT AI) for my work and no one but you and my director have asked me. And that image is completely painted. It is one of my favorite recent jobs that I have been able to do. And if you see other old works, you can see that my tendency is very similar when it comes to painting. I always play with warm and cold ones on my face. Thanks to the work together with the art director. They give me the freedom and appropriate time to develop it. This character is completely painted from scratch with a gray and superimposed color technique. Then I paint the cold tones to give atmosphere and light. It took me more than two weeks and my director was very happy with this work.

To be clear, Nestor Ossandón did not use AI to create the above art.

The artist provided proof (not that they should have to) which Hoffer posted on Twitter.

​

There's not much real journalism that goes on in the tiny corner of the world that is the TTRPG industry; it’s still a niche topic, although it’s more popular than it’s ever been. I myself do not consider myself as such--I report on stuff, but I don't investigate stuff, and my contribution is not much more than simple reportage and aggregation (not that I undervalue that--I've been doing it for 24 years now, and folks still read it, and I recognise my own value!) Christian Hoffer (ComicBook.com), Lin Codega (laid off from iO9, but hopefully they will find a new outlet soon), Christopher Helton (retired) and other folks like that are great examples of journalism in this little industry. YouTube... there's a lot of great, informative, fun stuff on there, and there are folks I follow and enjoy, but you should be careful!

(Edit—I had some examples of video thumbnails here but I don’t want to give the impression they are related to this AI art episode.)

 

[GreyLord]

The sad thing is that he shouldn't have to be exonerated at all: innocent until proven guilty. The onus was on the accuser to show guilt, not that Ossandon should have to show proof or evidence of his innocence.

As Morrus pointed out, this is all rage bait, and people want to declare guilt until proven innocent (and even then, maybe not). I also find it interesting that people are quick to judge on AI. Because so many want to portray AI in a bad light, most folks are all too ready to assume guilt.

Recently, a novel LLM proved a mathematical theory that has eluded humans. This goes to show that LLM's are not just stochastic parrots that just steal from human derived works and file the serial numbers off (and sometimes not even that). But because most people want to blame AI, it's all too easy to fall into the rage bait trap. I have my own concerns about AI, but immediate prejudice against it shouldn't be one of them.

EDIT: fixed some atrocious grammar

Interesting points. I think some of your points are actually reflected in recent movie I watched called The Creator. It's interesting that others are also positing these ideas as well.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

It's easy to see the appeal of AI generated art when we learn that it took an expert artist more than 2 weeks to paint this piece, while an amateur with an AI can generate a picture that's 90% as good in 2 minutes.

My heart goes out to the aspiring artists who see their dream job vanish before their eyes.

 

[teitan]

Lumping Professor Dungeonmaster in with those others is a great example of reporting, not investigating.
But I suppose he brings it on himself by having those clickbaity thumbnails.

No, he earned it.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Lumping Professor Dungeonmaster in with those others is a great example of reporting, not investigating.
But I suppose he brings it on himself by having those clickbaity thumbnails.

He does and I have not watched his last couple of videos because of this. Not sure it will make a difference.

 

[The Soloist]

I also stopped watching several D&D YouTubers very recently.

 

[Mannahnin]

Lumping Professor Dungeonmaster in with those others is a great example of reporting, not investigating.
But I suppose he brings it on himself by having those clickbaity thumbnails.

No, he earned it.

Both of those are perfectly reasonable positions.

He made a whole video earlier this year which was a direct plea for folks to watch more of his creative content (crafting and DMing videos) and less of the RPG news stuff if they don't want to reward clickbait. It's fair to criticize that he could just choose not to MAKE clickbait vids, but they evidently do crazy numbers for engagement. He went ahead and showed some numbers from YouTube to illustrate the point.

He does and I have not watched his last couple of videos because of this. Not sure it will make a difference.

His review of the WotC VTT from last week was very positive and civil.

 

[doctorhook]

This isn’t meant as an advert! It’s probably best not to include them. You can easily find that sort of thing with a quick search on TouTube though.

Haha yeah fair enough! Thanks

 

[Stonesnake]

As someone who falls prey to the negative geek culture algorithms of YouTube (not just tabletop gaming but also video games, films, television, etc.), it's something that I've increasingly wanted to avoid. The content is what's highlighted, and I'm spoonfed this stuff as background noise while I'm painting, driving, etc.
Even people I used to go out of my way to watch (Professor DM, Roll for Combat) are becoming more negative.
I wish I could locate better content.

Our coverage of the industry hasn't really changed since we started our YouTube channel. We are simply reporting the news and what is occurring in the industry, and Hasbro has had a horrible year and many self-inflicted wounds. But when positive things happen, such as our playtest of the D&D VTT (which both I and the Professor really enjoyed), we make sure to report that as well. But I'm very much looking forward to reporting and covering the new version of D&D next year, and we dedicated two entire weeks of videos detailing the changes in Pathfinder Remastered. We talk about everything, good and bad... there was just a lot more bad this year than good. Hopefully, this will change in 2024.

 

[Retreater]

He made a whole video earlier this year which was a direct plea for folks to watch more of his creative content (crafting and DMing videos) and less of the RPG news stuff if they don't want to reward clickbait. It's fair to criticize that he could just choose not to MAKE clickbait vids, but they evidently do crazy numbers for engagement. He went ahead and showed some numbers from YouTube to illustrate the point.

I have no proof of this - but I wonder how much of this is just the nefarious algorithm of YouTube suggesting more "clickbait" titles? It doesn't recommend me stuff like how to craft his Ultimate Dungeon Terrain or his Lost City campaign video. Maybe if it suggested those titles, more people would watch them? It's like YouTube creates its own death spiral of extremist content.
Nowhere has this been more evident to me than watching reviews of Star Wars films - where it escalated from "here are a few issues I had about the movies" to "Disney is pushing a Liberal agenda that is destroying the fabric of America" to actual conspiracy theory videos of racist content that I won't discuss here (which still mess me up to this day).
I hate and love YouTube at the same time. I have seen it militarize my family in extremist political and religious ideology. It also taught me how to shave, tie a tie, and change a turn signal.

 

[Vaalingrade]

People seem to forget that inside every faceless corporation are good people doing their best under difficult circumstances.

And around those people is a faceless corporation actively generating those difficult circumstances.