RPG Evolution: The AI DM in Action

Ruin Explorer said:

Yeah absolutely it does, for the same reason you want to know the ethics of production of other goods where you can.

I will absolutely not knowingly give money to a company which prefers AI art to employing real artists, and frankly any company that "doesn't disclose" who did the art - 100% they used AI art. So that'll be really, really easy to tell. Everyone else, even those using paid-for art libraries rather than commissioning pieces will be saying where they got it from.

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LesserThan said:

are forums now classified as social media too?

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Bayushi_seikuro said:

I'm old, but I'd have classified usenet groups as social media, given the sheer amount of users that have used them over the decades.

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Ruin Explorer said:

Ok, general question - Americans and Canadians (and others who wish to answer), do you guys not have art classes in your schools? I'm assuming you're one those two nations Thomas, apologies if not.

Because in the UK, at certainly 90% of schools, we have art classes from starting school to at least 14 for pretty much everyone. My American wife had art classes the whole way through school in rural Indiana. My American best friend likewise, in upstate Massachusetts - I could go on, but I think pretty much every American I know IRL (which is going to be selective sure) did art classes at school - it's the sort of thing I'm interested in, because I nearly went into art professionally (I mean, I've been paid for it as a job - not paid very much though! That was part of why I stopped!). My brother, who lives in Australia and has 4 kids with his Australian wife assures me that it's the same there.


As a trained artist, who did art at GSCE, A-level, and degree level (though I didn't complete the degree - also really dating myself with those qualifications probably), whose mother was an illustrator, who knows countless artists, who grew up around artists, who has seen the work and working methods of I would guess literally hundreds of artists, I would personally say it is both bizarre and a misapprehension. People discard pieces - but if a normal person saw a lot of those pieces, they'd be generally impressed - sometimes you can understand why, next to the artist's other pieces, they didn't feel this measured up - but a lot of the time it's obviously good, but they just didn't think it was worth the continued effort as compared to changing to another piece - or it'd given them a much better idea for what they should do (this is a pretty common on). It's not usually just random trash unless your hand slips or something.

Can I ask a question if it's not too impertinent? Have you ever done any art beyond like, er... what it's called in the US - we'd say primary school - i.e. up to about age 10? Or even never? Ok if you don't want to answer.

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Bayushi_seikuro said:

I'm old, but I'd have classified usenet groups as social media, given the sheer amount of users that have used them over the decades.

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LesserThan said:

That would be unsociable media, like most modern forms. Sure the internet brings people "closer" together, but only makes the distance less for the same kind of fights globally that are had over swings on the playground.

But, new term, everything else gets grandfathered under it, and you get no say. Welcome to English 101.

Wait until the AI starts joining forums to learn and gauge its reponses to real world applications.... if it usn't already crawling them to do that as we speak.

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ART! said:

I wonder if it would be feasible and worth their time to add AI features that make DMing easier for neurodivergent folks.

Obviously, there are lots of ways one can be neurodivergent, but the example I can think of is making it easier to run combats by - on a turn by turn basis - make it clearer what the NPCs/monsters could do at that point. The more powerful the monster, the more actions, legendary actions, legendary resistance, etc. options they have. I have ADD, and I have found it nearly impossible to keep track of all that.

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Sulicius said:

Friend, I am on your side! I am just trying to tell you that it is becoming almost impossible to recognize AI generated art. Just take the “art” I shared earlier in this thread. I am pretty sure that could fool me, and I will never spend money on something that replaces an artist.

But the technology IS here, and a lot of people don’t see the difference enough to care. Pretending the art is obviously bad will just give them more time to improve the technology.

It is not a scam, but it IS destroying the livelihoods of artists around the world.

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timbannock said:

First of all, I'm happy to share more info about our experience; we're on a discussion forum, after all. So if you have specific questions that would help you see whether this had any value or not rather than dismissing our experience out of hand, shoot. I still have the history of prompts available and their outputs, plus a session writeup, and could poll my players and come back with specific recollections of their experiences.

Secondly, I'm not interested in glorifying anything. I used a tool, and it provided value to the gaming experience we all had at the table: it directly improved the content I had ready for that specific scene, based on very little (but notably highly specific, including setting-specific) context, and it worked in a matter of seconds.

Lastly, I'm against AI replacing...well, a lot. Certainly writers, artists, and creatives of any kind. But using it as a tool? I'd be an idiot to be against that simply out of hand; I ran this as a test to see what it can do, and it performed to my liking. I'd much prefer AI to do my laundry and dishes, but if what it can do today is make my gaming session easier and better, I'm at least open to exploring that, while at the same time being vocal about ensuring AI doesn't ruin people's livelihoods. In case you wanted know where I stand.

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Reynard said:

It matters to you. That's not really what I was asking, broadly. Commercial art is already churned out and of dubious quality, with companies paying as little as they can for it. To the average consumer, does it matter if that slides from"slave wages" to "made by AI"? I don't think it does, because I don't think most people give even a few seconds thought about where their consumer goods come from.

"AI Free" is going to become the next "Non-GMO" label slapped on things to make very shallow concern trolls feel better about their culpability in supporting terrible business practices in order to enjoy cheap goods. And like GMO Karen, AI Kyle doesn't actually know why he is mad, what the technology does or means, or anything else beyond "that thing bad."

Don't get me wrong: AI generated art is a problem and will definitely serve companies while screwing both artists and consumers. But in many cases, commercial art is already exploitative. Why do you think Marvel comics farms for artists in South and Central America? Do you really think the artists are just inherently better there? or, go on Fivrr and see how low you can bid your art. that's where a lot of the stuff you see in small press work is coming from.

But, really, we have had the AI art argument over and over. That isn't really what this thread is about. Ai assisted, LLM based tools for running your campaign are a really good idea and are definitely coming. Even with tools at the stage they are now, not tweaked specifically for it, you can get a lot of great mileage out of AI in relation to gaming. And it isn't stealing any jobs. You weren't going to hire a meatbag DM assistant anyway.

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