WotC Would you buy WotC products produced or enhanced with AI?

[Jfdlsjfd]

I wonder if it’s a conversation that even can be had.

Maybe not here, simply. What makes them feel look alike is that basically, some people are opposing it on political grounds ("it's bad, because artists will starve/stop producing art", with the unspoken statement that "our societies generally suck at redistributing wealth through other means than the job market". I think most of the disagreement comes basically from some form of empathy toward artists, or accusation of lacking of empathy toward them, when they might lose their job, and may be the first to do so (though I feel taxi drivers might be close second and should be worrying a lot more right now). But discussion how society should react to a post-job/mass unemployment society isn't an appropriate topic. Neither is exploring the way society could/should incentivize creativity once it is determined that creativity and art is something we deem useful to exist. Depending on how we'll collectively react, we may be heading toward either The Culture/Star Trek or Hunger Games. Possibly at the same time.

I suspect in the long run it’ll be ‘decided’ one way or the other in courts by powerful companies with a vested interest in IP protection and our endless philosophical logjams matter not one whit.

I'd say it will be decided one way of the other in courts by judges and lawmakers, which is great in democratic states (best system outside of every other that have been tried). I agree with the basics on how what actually happens will be determined -- basically what happened with search engines (and steam engines). Whether it will be by powerful tech companies, powerful IP holding companies, or citizens endeavouring to do their civic duty to defend the common good in earnest remains to be seen. If these discussions prompts righteous people to act instead of lamenting the evil a few companies cause in their societies, it will be immensely positive.

 

[LordEntrails]

Unfortunately, our civilization is much more focused on novelty than quality. Steady careers increasingly revolve around constantly finding new things to do more than doing one thing very well.

Perhaps. But perhaps it is more about diminishing returns? As a movie goer, I can watch the best movie ever made. Written by savants, produced by geniuses, and acted by the pinnacle of the acting art. Or I can watch a Michael Bay film. I'm willing to spend two hours and $15 bucks on either one. Is the first one that takes ten times longer to make from the best of the best going to be viable if I'm not willing to pay substantially more?

As for RPGs, do I need the pinnacle of artwork in my game? Do I need the ideal adventure plot? Heck, am I even good enough to leverage the best of the best material for my players? Or is good enough what I need to match my ability to GM and my players interest in engaging?

I wonder if it’s a conversation that even can be had. I suspect in the long run it’ll be ‘decided’ one way or the other in courts by powerful companies with a vested interest in IP protection and our endless philosophical logjams matter not one whit.

Depends. Are you (not you specifically) willing to change your mind? If folks are so set that X is unethical, or Y is the only solution, or Z is anything. Then no. If you are willing to have an honest discussion, and accept that other might have a different, and valid, opinion. And that perhaps your views should change, then yes.

Sure, but maybe not enough material suitable for everyone's specific taste (not everyone like D&D, not everyone like scifi...)

True. But I see it more that there is already more material available than I could ever evaluate to see if it meets my needs/wants. When I need a map of a subway tunnel I might spend 20 minutes looking for something that might work before giving up and spending 60 minutes creating my own with mapping tools I'm proficient with. When I need adventure ideas for my party and what happens when the FTL drive goes south, well, again, I could spend sometime searching DriveThruRPG for something that would work and that I would probably have to adapt anyway, or I could just create my own.

Though their will be lots that come from AI, the ability for a GM to quickly create an adventure tailored to their wants and needs faster than they can find something published (and created solely by humans) is going to be the driver for our hobby.

 

[Metroido]

Explosion of creativity. Diminishing the barrier of entry to publish great works will certainly be a net improvement to society.

There will be no such "explosion of creativity," for a variety of reasons. It will be an explosion of mediocrity. People who can't tell the difference will be perfectly happy, I suppose.

 

[The Firebird]

There will be no such "explosion of creativity," for a variety of reasons. It will be an explosion of mediocrity. People who can't tell the difference will be perfectly happy, I suppose.

What bar does my work have to reach to count as creative? If I come up with a city and include a procgen map, is that part not creative? The whole city, or just the map?

 

[Crimson Longinus]

My calculator doesn't steal its answers from other people's work.

And it can actually do maths correctly!

 

[Metroido]

What bar does my work have to reach to count as creative? If I come up with a city and include a procgen map, is that part not creative? The whole city, or just the map?

I wasn't referring to procedural map generation.

 

[LordEntrails]

There will be no such "explosion of creativity," for a variety of reasons. It will be an explosion of mediocrity. People who can't tell the difference will be perfectly happy, I suppose.

Mediocrity can be creative. And it can be good enough in many cases, probably in most. Does every painting need to be a Monet to have value? Of course not.

Here's an actual example of the growth of creativity in the RPG community enabled by AI.
This last week I showed my brother how to take his poorly worded ideas, that are limited by his disabilities, and feed them into CoPilot to create something "better". How to respond and refine the AI conversation to delve into and flesh out his adventure ideas. How to create interesting NPCs to interact with.

Over 40 years of gaming with him he has never created his own adventure. He has never felt he could create an NPC. He has never taken his ideas and put them down for others (in this case me) to use.

This week he has demonstrated an explosion of creativity facilitated by LLMs and AI.

So, rail against AI all you want. Just do it knowing that while you do so you are gate keeping and oppressing others who can benefit from the technology.

Or, you could accept that good and harm can come from the technology. And we can discuss how we as a community can limit the harm while maximizing the benefit.

 

[The Firebird]

I wasn't referring to procedural map generation.

I don't understand your point then. Why is the use of some generative technologies not creative, while others are?

 

[Incenjucar]

We can already all publish adventures. Whether we can create them is a different matter. Whether am LLM can generate one is an additional matter.

 

[CleverNickName]

So, rail against AI all you want. Just do it knowing that while you do so you are gate keeping and oppressing others who can benefit from the technology.

Or, you could accept that good and harm can come from the technology. And we can discuss how we as a community can limit the harm while maximizing the benefit.

I can't speak to everyone else in the thread, who are all dunking on AI.

I don't want AI to cease to exist; I want AI companies to pay the artists/writers/estates that they stole from when training their programs. Otherwise it's a form of theft, and the ends don't justify the means.