AI Art Removed From Upcoming Terminator RPG Book

(this is not the art in question)​

AI rears its head yet again--this time it's an artist using Artificial Intelligence and then submitting it to Nightfall Games for its upcoming Terminator 2: Judgement Day sourcebook.

The artist in question initially claimed that the art was not generated by AI. Nightfall Games made a statement yesterday indicating that they had detected the AI art during the development phase of the product, and are already in the process of having it replaced for the book's release. The artist has not been named—but it’s probably not Skynet!

This is the second time AI art has hit the headlines, after WotC updated its AI art policy following false accusations by a YouTuber. It's clear that AI art is going to be a major topic in the months and years to come.

As I mentioned in my last update, we just need to do a few quick things over the weekend to finalise both T2 and RESIST. Jared who is our Indesign guru was working through the files when he noticed that one of the art pieces looked suspiciously AI-like. He pointed this out to Benn and Mark, who have led the production of the project. They both confirmed that the 'art-producer' had confirmed multiple times that he wasn't using AI art generators and instead was producing collages and then over painting and using Photoshop filters to make the art. Mark and Benn trusted this individual as both a long term collegue and friend.

The image was run through an AI art identifying program to discover a 99.9% match with the AI art generator 'Midjourney'. We then identified all other art produced by the individual to discover a 99.9% 'Midjourney' hit on 16 of them.

16x99.9% AI or a program that is 16x99.9% wrong?​

We hoped the identifier was wrong, but our art experts quickly noticed things the less experienced members of our team would never have know. Things like image resolution, go to AI filters etc.. We had been duped and paid out a significant amount of money in the duping.

But why does this matter?​

It matters because AI art is theft. It creates art from a massive, massive portfolio of art and images, that have been created by real people. It then splurges out poor mockeries of these arts without any consideration of the artists and can be done by any Tom, Dick or Hary.

We do not want to cheat artists (we are artists), we don't want to cheat you (our backers and customers). We are a small company, who focus on good and original art and pay well for it. We find this situation abhorrent, upsetting and depressing.

Purge or Die?​

A dilemma indeed. Although, as Data from Star Trek would say, we considered it for approximately 0.0002 milliseconds.

What we have done?​

We have great people in our team and Jared has sacrificed his long weekend to fix this. And he has. We need to get approval for the fixes from the IP owners but we will drive that now. Once given we will be back on track.

Watch this space...​

In the meantime, we as a company will be working with our external artists to ensure that all art is confirmed AI free and we will also be implementing a number of checks before payment is made and art is accepted.

 

[Dire Bare]

Yes, I meant they were going to (unintentionally), but they caught it. It struck me as vaguely how Cyberdyne unintentionally brought a self-aware Skynet down upon humanity.

If only Cyberdyne had also caught things early . . . .

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

As the Eighties broadcast dub put it: you're terminated, trucker.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

No shade on my digital artist friends, but if this AI backlash meant that we could get more classic style painted art, I would be thrilled. I just don't like a lot of the art styles that have proliferated since the shift to digital art.

 

[Yora]

Now that's ironic.

So would probably having machine generated images in the book been as well.

 

[J.Quondam]

Screwy? What else do you need? Nightfall Games is developing a Terminator RPG, and providing regular updates to backers/followers, and discussed an issue of one of their artists using AI art, how they discovered it, how they feel about it, and what they did about it.

While the artist in question was dishonest, naming and shaming them would be a poor move on Nightfall's part.

The "poor mockeries" isn't describing the aesthetic quality of the AI art in question, but rather is an emotional description about how the Nightfall team feels about AI art . . . and about being deceived by an artist they trusted.

Why does Nightfall need to give you a more exhaustive explanation?

They don't "need" to give me a more exhaustive explanation; I don't know anything about the company or the game in question. But this is a forum where we're talking about them, not to them.

I'm only pointing out that this is a wholly one-sided account of the situation. It's also a public statement with a serious accusation, that includes lots of hints at detail but no way to confirm any of it. And it comes on the heels of something very similar just a few days ago. Taken together, that, to me, is screwy.

 

[Dire Bare]

They don't "need" to give me a more exhaustive explanation; I don't know anything about the company or the game in question.

I'm only pointing out that this is a wholly one-sided account of the situation. It's also a public statement with a serious accusation, that includes lots of hints at detail but no way to confirm any of it. And it comes on the heels of something very similar just a few days ago. Taken together, that, to me, is screwy.

They didn't name the artist. There is no accusation.

To make this not "one-sided", they would have to name the artist, which could bring a lot of harm to that person. Perhaps deservedly, but I respect them avoiding that situation.

It's not screwy. You're going to see a lot more news items like this as we coast into 2024 and beyond. The use of AI in art has exploded in recent years and accelerated even more in 2023. It's controversial, and gets some folks really upset. It's wise for companies to get ahead of this sort of thing, and communicate that to their fans/customers. And, within our small community here, it's news.

A lot of artists and creators are using AI to create all sorts of art, including RPG games. Some are doing it to cut corners, some to save money, others because they love being on the forefront of exploring new technology and techniques. And a growing number of fans are becoming aware and are loudly unhappy with the trend.

You are engaging in conspiracy-theory style thinking, like somehow this is a publicity stunt by Nightfall Games. Occam's Razor, it is what it is, a small company updating fans on the progress of their latest game, and discussing an art issue they've run into. No more, no less.

We only need to hear from the artist if they are directly named and accused. Which hasn't happened.

 

[Andvari]

This seems like the perfect game for using AI art.

 

[Shardstone]

The hysterics over AI imagery are constant. It is not theft.

 

[Sacrosanct]

The hysterics over AI imagery are constant. It is not theft.

According to David Holz, the founder of MidJourney, it absolutely is. Well, he didn't he was stealing word for word, but he did say MJ uses and includes in its generation millions of pieces of art without permission or consent.

So yeah, basically theft.

 

[Shardstone]

According to David Holz, the founder of MidJourney, it absolutely is. Well, he didn't he was stealing word for word, but he did say MJ uses and includes in its generation millions of pieces of art without permission or consent.

So yeah, basically theft.

I do not care what Holz said, nor do I care what one particular model does. Overall, just like how ChatGPT isn't taking our literal words and stitching them together, AI Image generators are not taking literal images and collaging them into something new. It replicates patterns it sees and produces what we think it wants us to see, which is why sometimes you will see signatures pop up. But it is not theft, and the only argument for it being theft is ultimately rooted in a (valid) fear of losing one's commercial purpose -- the production of art.