How Does AI Affect Your Online Shopping?

You discover a product you were interested in was made with AI. How does that affect you?

  • I am now more likely to buy that product.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I am now less likely to buy that product.

    Votes: 83 56.5%
  • I am neither more nor less likely to buy that product.

    Votes: 18 12.2%
  • I need more information about the product now.

    Votes: 22 15.0%
  • I do not need more information about this product.

    Votes: 23 15.6%
  • The product seems more valuable to me now.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • The product seems less valuable to me now.

    Votes: 82 55.8%
  • The product value hasn't changed to me.

    Votes: 13 8.8%
  • I will buy the product purely on principle.

    Votes: 2 1.4%
  • I will not buy the product purely on principle.

    Votes: 83 56.5%
  • My principles do not extend to a product's use of AI.

    Votes: 15 10.2%
  • I think all products should be required to disclose their use of AI.

    Votes: 109 74.1%
  • I don't think products should be required to disclose their use of AI.

    Votes: 3 2.0%
  • I don't care if products disclose their use of AI or not.

    Votes: 5 3.4%

that would maybe be true if 1) the entire product were AI generated rather than, say, the pictures but not the text and 2) a free copy were easily available. So chances are this care rarely comes up
If a product includes both AI-generated and non-AI-generated content, I will only consider the non-AI-generated content when determining how much money I'd pay for that product. If I decide the product has non-zero monetary value, I then have to start asking questions about whether or not I can ethically support the product. (I don't have to worry about ethical considerations if the entire product is AI-generated, because I won't be paying for that product, regardless.)

If the entire product is AI-generated, but a free copy isn't widely available, I still won't consider paying money for it. Under current copyright law, the seller has no legal, moral, or ethical justification for asking a non-zero price for AI-generated content. I don't have enough interest in luxury products to value something simply because supply and demand considerations set an arbitrary price for it. If market forces set what I consider to be an unreasonable price on a luxury good, I'll abstain from buying it.
 

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I had to use AI for a work thing recently and the output was so bad that it gave me a headache - and I don't really get headaches. I have a finite lifespan, I'm not going to waste any of it on an AI product. The chance of an AI product actually providing value is so incredibly minuscule that the effort to find out makes no sense when there are more human-made things in the world than I could ever consume, and as a bonus you can get a read on the value of a human-made thing fairly easily because humans aren't randomized snippets from Reddit.
 

For me, I'd be genuinely surprised to see it. When I'm looking at a creative product, from an RPG to a computer game, to a book I know as much as I can about it before even getting the urge to pick it up.

If I'm looking for something, I likely know a lot about it. I've read reviews, seen first looks, and likely had it recommended by friends. All of that means I'm pretty unlikely to buy something with heavy AI investment because most product that has it just aren't going to be that good.

I buy a lot of small RPGs from solo designers because I'll pretty much pick up anything in the realms where I discuss such things. I'm sure I've purchased something with AI components, but I'm buying that product to help out someone I've talked with and l want to encourage them.

If I saw a game on Steam I'd never heard of, I'm just not buying it at all until I've done my due diligence.

At the same time I realize this is going to change over time. The AI of today is much better than what was here in the last generation. I expect it will continue to get better. I also realize that tech adoption eventually happens when the product meets the customer's need. The Zune was never going to be the next big thing, but just about anyone who listens to music on the go uses their phone to do it. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but AI continues to develop and it's quite useful for me in my work at the moment.
 


I think you are not giving proper consideration of the page after page after page of discussion genAI has had on these boards.

I mean, you get to think what you want. Nobody can stop you. But the "I have concerns, and here's why..." has been covered already, numerous times. At this point, you are discarding them for choosing to not repeat themselves.
I think you might have been reading 'page after page after page of discussion genAI has had on these boards' then wrapping that discussion around your own personal biases.

If someone contradicts the opinions that one has formed, a person tends to react in the way that you have. It's understandable, but to me, it's also intellectually vacant.

Let me suggest an alternative: read what you're responding to. Understand where what upsets you comes from. You know... just back up a step. This is the basis of science. Observe what you don't understand with equanimity. It leads to better outcomes.

Also consider that you are speaking to other human beings. Be kind to others. I mean... come on.

So having said that... how about you put these two thoughts together and come up with a better answer?
 

I think you might have been reading 'page after page after page of discussion genAI has had on these boards' then wrapping that discussion around your own personal biases.

If someone contradicts the opinions that one has formed, a person tends to react in the way that you have. It's understandable, but to me, it's also intellectually vacant.

Let me suggest an alternative: read what you're responding to. Understand where what upsets you comes from. You know... just back up a step. This is the basis of science. Observe what you don't understand with equanimity. It leads to better outcomes.

Also consider that you are speaking to other human beings. Be kind to others. I mean... come on.

So having said that... how about you put these two thoughts together and come up with a better answer?
Drop the condescending tone, please.
 

Drivethru's AI Guidelines very clearly state that yes, you're required to disclose the use of AI tools.
So, would your suggestion then be that I put the error back in my module all so that I can avoid being blacklisted by such a large part of the market?
If it is an emotional issue, it must be discussed in an emotional manner. Neglecting those emotions will lose the nuance that you insist upon.
Well that's stup$%@#^ % ^# %^#$ %^ #$^ # $ %^& #^& ^ & Oh wait, that was an emotional response. Not very useful. But no, I did not say emotion is not valid, but I disagree that it must be discussed in an emotional manner. It has to be discussed with emotional sensitivity and awareness. But in an emotional manner? You're the first person I've ever heard suggest something. Pretty sure all the professional advice is to not let emotions drive the discuss but to rather approach such topics with sensitivity and awareness.
Assuming you just used that AI as an editor, I really don't think that counts as using AI for content. It's letting you know that you had an incorrect name, some minor grammatical errors, and only a single clue that might be missed leading to you, presumably, filling in the blanks. If that's all you used it for, then you aren't using AI to generate content. If you asked the AI to add in some clues, then I'd think you should disclose it.
But others said I should mark it as such, and per the quoted rules seems like I should. I agree it seems... troublesome. Because as pointed out, there is strong incentive for me to lie about it, or release an inferior product. Neither of which are good.
In this case, AI didn't really generate anything. It just did job content editor and proofreader usually do. For small indie teams or one-man-band game dev/writers, this is big money save. Hiring professional to do that job could cost 100-200 e easy (depending on size of text, is cost per word or per hour etc).
Yep, which is out of my budget for something that I would be lucky to sell 100 copies of.
FWIW, I’m a damn good proofreader & editor, tried by fire. But when it matters, I always try to find a second set of eyes to look at MY stuff.
I'm not a good proofreader or editor. And I got a second set of human eyes to take a look. Got the best I could afford (free) and they aren't very good (and never claimed to be, just a friend willing to help).
Unfortunately, judging by the poll results, it won't matter. Almost nobody thinks it adds value... in fact, most people will see that the product was made with AI, and reject it on principle.
Yep, which leaves me with two practical choices; lie or release an inferior product. I'm not sure how that helps humans produce more quality RPG content, but hey...
Until they fix the harm it's doing-- stop the fraud, the theft, the misinformation, the deepfakes-- none of the good will get noticed. IMO, of course.
Can't fix the harm, or at least not all of it. We haven't fixed all the harm of cars, or airplanes, or food distribution. But they certainly do more harm to people than AI does yet no one complains about them.
To me AI is like plastic. Yeah there are a lot of good uses for plastic but it's also incredibly harmful. When I purchase something I prioritize products with less plastic.
Sounds reasonable. But how does a RPG content creator communicate that info to a potential buyer effectively?
Maybe if we had more positive news stories about how it has helped astrophysics/astronomy by analysing the vast amounts of data to find more phenomena in space, or about how it is used to help in medicine we'd have people with a more balanced view of it. I think part of the problem is that for every good story, there are 10 bad ones.
Bad stories get more clicks. Sensationalism sells. People don't want to hear the boring story about how AI caught 10 signs or early cancer at your local hospital last year...
A human is probably a more sustainable use of resources for that task.
But what about for tasks that humans are not affordable?
I think something missing from this discussion of editing in terms of AI is that an editor is not just a glorified spelling and grammar checker. Editing is as much an art and skill as writing or illustrating, and two different editors can produce two different versions of the same book. It's like translators; a translator can make a work drag or sing, and their approach changes a book. The very thought of everyone running their work through the same AI editor is profoundly boring. Why would you want a mechanical player piano when you could hire a jazz pianist?
Sure, if everyone used the same AI with the same prompts. Though did you know that most LLMs don't give consistent results? Using different conversions/browsers/session, give them a fairly complex such of instruction and see how different the responses are. (You have to make sure it doesn't know who you are via cookies or login etc)
For me personally, I want to support human creativity with my $. I commission art and buy products to give people who make cool and interesting things the ability to keep doing that. With so much excellent human created content in this world, more then I can use, why would I pay for slop?
Wait, Morrus said he's had content accused of being AI generated. That's not slop...
And what about my use case? Does using AI to catch one minor plot hole now make my adventure slop? I don't think it was slop before AI gave me feedback on it. Assuming it wasn't, how does one suggested improvement now make it bad?
Or is slop just your term for anything that AI has generated and the term actually has no qualitative assessment in it?
Those are not the uses that the tech community trying to sell it are targeting!
You're lumping the tech community into a homogenous entity. There are parts of the tech community that are trying to sell to those targets. I will agree that a lot of the 'community' is targeting the populous targets. But, IMO that is because they are not actually looking to sell, but rather garner investment. Just like "cloud" and "VR/AR" and so other many tech fads we've seen. The technologies are real and useful, they just get abused by "salespeople" trying to garner investment dollars for a quick score. IMO
I am uninterested in any sort of ttrpg product that uses AI art, text, or other output as a part of its final product. I don't care if others use it in their games as that is their prerogative, but I will not be using any of it in the games I run for my table.

Those individuals and groups that spend the time and energy to craft a tabletop products using their own creative ideas and skills are worthy of respect. I see no reason to replace or supplement the material in my games with AI slop that was built using an amalgam of work from other creatives without recognizing or paying any of them.
So I should publish a product with a minor plot hole in it and a couple of grammatical errors because my inexperienced editor missed them but an AI review did not?
I want nothing to do with AI/LLM in the TTRPG sphere at al. And anyone using it is blacklisted for any further purchases unless they choose to not touch AI/LLM again.

I dont care if its more "efficient". Its damaging to the environment, to society and to the mind and the cognetive ability of the users.
Got it. So you would rather I publish a product with a few grammatical errors and a plot hole. Not sure how that helps the RPG consumer, but if I want your sales, I know what I need to do.
It's shorthand, rather than having to type all that out over and over again. Forcing people to re-explain their premise every time they speak is a great way to silence people. I'm sure you know what the general concerns over AI are; you don't need them reiterated in every post.
It's a really poor and ill formed shorthand. It implies a qualitative assessment even when such is not a valid criticism. It's like 'Defund the police' but then when asked some of those supporters say, 'well yea, we don't mean actually take away all their money.' How about something like; "harm' or even a full sentence like 'I won't support any AI products because it does too much harm.'
If a product includes both AI-generated and non-AI-generated content, I will only consider the non-AI-generated content when determining how much money I'd pay for that product. If I decide the product has non-zero monetary value, I then have to start asking questions about whether or not I can ethically support the product. (I don't have to worry about ethical considerations if the entire product is AI-generated, because I won't be paying for that product, regardless.)
So how much do I devalue my module because my second editor (third if you count myself) was AI and caught a few things the writer and editor did not?
I'm not going to waste any of it on an AI product. The chance of an AI product actually providing value is so incredibly minuscule that the effort to find out makes no sense
And that's based on what? Do you think you could and would actually evaluate my product and let me know if you think it has any value? It's pretty niche (FrontierSpace adventure), and then let me know how much value it might have without AI. And how do we value/de-value the grammar and plot hole issues it identified?
I buy a lot of small RPGs from solo designers because I'll pretty much pick up anything in the realms where I discuss such things. I'm sure I've purchased something with AI components, but I'm buying that product to help out someone I've talked with and l want to encourage them.
IMO not that I'm trying to be a RPG professional, but a small following would be awesome. So how do you feel about the AI use case as an editor I mentioned? Because I would have to subsidize my publishing just to afford a real editor.
 

So, would your suggestion then be that I put the error back in my module all so that I can avoid being blacklisted by such a large part of the market?

Well that's stup$%@#^ % ^# %^#$ %^ #$^ # $ %^& #^& ^ & Oh wait, that was an emotional response. Not very useful. But no, I did not say emotion is not valid, but I disagree that it must be discussed in an emotional manner. It has to be discussed with emotional sensitivity and awareness. But in an emotional manner? You're the first person I've ever heard suggest something. Pretty sure all the professional advice is to not let emotions drive the discuss but to rather approach such topics with sensitivity and awareness.

But others said I should mark it as such, and per the quoted rules seems like I should. I agree it seems... troublesome. Because as pointed out, there is strong incentive for me to lie about it, or release an inferior product. Neither of which are good.

Yep, which is out of my budget for something that I would be lucky to sell 100 copies of.

I'm not a good proofreader or editor. And I got a second set of human eyes to take a look. Got the best I could afford (free) and they aren't very good (and never claimed to be, just a friend willing to help).

Yep, which leaves me with two practical choices; lie or release an inferior product. I'm not sure how that helps humans produce more quality RPG content, but hey...

Can't fix the harm, or at least not all of it. We haven't fixed all the harm of cars, or airplanes, or food distribution. But they certainly do more harm to people than AI does yet no one complains about them.

Sounds reasonable. But how does a RPG content creator communicate that info to a potential buyer effectively?

Bad stories get more clicks. Sensationalism sells. People don't want to hear the boring story about how AI caught 10 signs or early cancer at your local hospital last year...

But what about for tasks that humans are not affordable?

Sure, if everyone used the same AI with the same prompts. Though did you know that most LLMs don't give consistent results? Using different conversions/browsers/session, give them a fairly complex such of instruction and see how different the responses are. (You have to make sure it doesn't know who you are via cookies or login etc)

Wait, Morrus said he's had content accused of being AI generated. That's not slop...
And what about my use case? Does using AI to catch one minor plot hole now make my adventure slop? I don't think it was slop before AI gave me feedback on it. Assuming it wasn't, how does one suggested improvement now make it bad?
Or is slop just your term for anything that AI has generated and the term actually has no qualitative assessment in it?

You're lumping the tech community into a homogenous entity. There are parts of the tech community that are trying to sell to those targets. I will agree that a lot of the 'community' is targeting the populous targets. But, IMO that is because they are not actually looking to sell, but rather garner investment. Just like "cloud" and "VR/AR" and so other many tech fads we've seen. The technologies are real and useful, they just get abused by "salespeople" trying to garner investment dollars for a quick score. IMO

So I should publish a product with a minor plot hole in it and a couple of grammatical errors because my inexperienced editor missed them but an AI review did not?

Got it. So you would rather I publish a product with a few grammatical errors and a plot hole. Not sure how that helps the RPG consumer, but if I want your sales, I know what I need to do.

It's a really poor and ill formed shorthand. It implies a qualitative assessment even when such is not a valid criticism. It's like 'Defund the police' but then when asked some of those supporters say, 'well yea, we don't mean actually take away all their money.' How about something like; "harm' or even a full sentence like 'I won't support any AI products because it does too much harm.'

So how much do I devalue my module because my second editor (third if you count myself) was AI and caught a few things the writer and editor did not?

And that's based on what? Do you think you could and would actually evaluate my product and let me know if you think it has any value? It's pretty niche (FrontierSpace adventure), and then let me know how much value it might have without AI. And how do we value/de-value the grammar and plot hole issues it identified?

IMO not that I'm trying to be a RPG professional, but a small following would be awesome. So how do you feel about the AI use case as an editor I mentioned? Because I would have to subsidize my publishing just to afford a real editor.

You're asking what you should do? You should either follow the Drivethru guidelines and disclose that your product used AI in the creation or you should hire a professional editor. I'm not a huge publisher, but I've got an editor that I've worked with for the past seven years. He's worth every penny and my work is better for him. Plus, it helps to support the industry as a whole when people are paid fair wages for their work.
 


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