D&D General Would It Matter To You if D&D Books Were Illustrated by AI Instead of Humans?

[Jfdlsjfd]

I wouldn't say I'm okay with it, but my concerns aren't really RPG-related - society has some big questions to sort out regarding the consequences of AI and other automation replacing human labour in a great many fields.

Labor and capital are interchangeable, up to a point. As technical progress goes forward, they are more and more interchangeable. At some point, they will be totally interchangeable and most jobs will be replaced par AI (perhaps in millenia in the future, perhaps in 2024) and machines. The problem most are worried about isn't related to AI art, it is related to societies that use wages as their main mean to reduce inequalities will either become extremely inegalitarian or the other means of reducing inequalities will be reinforced to compensate. There is a tangible risk, as cost of producing, in this case, works of art, decrease, of putting artists into wage-outdoor hiking (especially since they are not doing well even right now). But it's not really related to artists and AI, it is a complaint toward society models that requires one to do something that they can sell with their time to not starve, and, perhaps, their inability to anticipate the quickness of the technical changes (in the case where it happens closer to 2024 than millenias away).

 

[Art Waring]

As an artist that does occasional freelance work, I am at the least concerned, in the long term.

Artists have a difficult time earning a living as it is.

Although people are naming it "AI" it is the farthest thing from. These tools are creating art derived from millions of preexisting works, without consent from the original artists, to potentially create art for commercial products.

It is concerning, because the legal ramifications are not yet clear. The laws could change at any moment, deciding that "AI" generated art isn't able to be copywrited, pushing everything into the public domain, and anything you are using could then be used by anybody. Working with a contracted artist ensures you retain the rights to your IP and your creative work.

If indie publishers don't support freelance artists, it will only continue to get worse for artists on the lower end of the economic spectrum.

Many artists are already being exploited by multiple industries. Artists trying to get up in galleries might have to rent out space on a wall, pay to play, just to sell their art. Artists are undervalued enough as it is. They need more opportunities for employment, not less.

 

[MoonSong]

Yes, it would bother me.

Artists deserve to be paid for their work.

It would not bother me because it is AI, that's whatever. Some AI-generated art is quite interesting, even beautiful. But unless we turn "art AI" into a tool used by artists and thus a tool which enhances artists' ability to create art, rather than a tool which enhances tech companies' ability to milk money out of us, it will be a Problem and not a Solution.

I'd love to have an AI that did the first colloring of artwork. The first layer of color is a very time consuming process and it is normally done by assistants. I don't have the budget for assistants, so having an AI do it would help me work very quickly.

 

[MoonSong]

Optimally, an artist could use AI to generate a basis and inspiration, then adjust/composite/paint over so that it becomes a combination of machine gruntwork and a human knowing what the hell is actually wanted.

Umm, no. Artistic process doesn't work that way. There is some gruntwork involved when painting/drawing. But the basis of an artwork involves basically no gruntwork. Gruntwork is basically one process that we call "emplastar" in Spanish which is done before shading and texturing.

 

[Art Waring]

Umm, no. Artistic process doesn't work that way. There is some gruntwork involved when painting/drawing. But the basis of an artwork involves basically no gruntwork. Gruntwork is basically one process that we call "emplastar" in Spanish which is done before shading and texturing.

As an artist, speaking from experience, there is no universal "artistic process," every artist has their own unique process.

If an individual finds inspiration from an AI, so be it, there is nothing stopping them from using that creative process to make art.

If an artist was classically trained, so be it, but just because they learned to do it a certain way does not mean that it is the best way, or the only way of doing things.

Some artists use visual aids or other methonds that some might consider unconventional. Tim Bradstreet, a veteran of the RPG and the comics industry, uses live models for all of his pieces, using the photograph, lighting, and his own artistic process to create a work of art.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Umm, no. Artistic process doesn't work that way.

Pretty bold of you to assert how every artist works. Just the ability to prototype fast through compositions and see what works (especially for a client job) can save so much time.

 

[beancounter]

I personally don't care if an AI makes a picture, but I can see the potential problem with publishers eventually choosing to outsource their illustration needs to AI, resulting in a lot of unemployed illustrators.

However, a lot of professions have been or will be replaced by robots eventually, so it's not just an issue for illustrators.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I voted no, but to be fair I don't really care about art and don't consider it a selling point in an RPG, outside of a threat book like the MM.

 

[Blue Orange]

You know, one of the things that motivates me to purchase an expensive hardcover guide rather than simply looking up its contents online is the artwork. I see physical guides as sort of coffee table artbooks as much as they are guides. Why would I pay money for AI-generated artwork rather than clicking around an AI website myself? Why should I place any value on a product that devalues artists so completely as to cut them out?

There are companies like Taschen that make fancy hardcover books of art as coffee table books primarily. They even cost as much as D&D manuals a lot of the time (the limited editions can be much more). I could see Wizards/Hasbro pivoting to this...

 

[Stalker0]

With very few exceptions, once machines are capable of taking over a human endeavor, the market inevitably chooses the machine. Speed, quality, and consistency is the promise…and the market always favors this.