DriveThruRPG's New AI-Content Filter

DriveThruRPG, the largest online platform for the sale of TTRPG PDFs and print-on-demand titles, has added a new browsing option which allows customers to filter out AI-generated content.

By default AI content is set as viewable. The new setting allows you to choose between Handcrafted (no AI involved), Contains AI-Generated Content (part of the product is AI), and Creation Method Not Chosen By Publisher. The filter is found in the user account settings under Additional Preferences.

DTRPG's AI-Generated Content Policy (as of July 2023) requires sellers to indicate whether AI was used in the product, and will not accept "standalone artwork products that utilize AI-generated tools to make content." Additionally they will not accept "commercial content primarily written by AI language generators." However, titles partially created by AI are permitted.

Where a community content program (such as DMs Guild, Storyteller's Vault, Cypher System Creator, and so on), the AI policy is set by the publisher who owns the program.

Many TTRPG publishers, including Wizards of the Coast (although WotC's policy seem at odds with CEO Chris Cock's own statements), EN Publishing, Kobold Press, and more, have declared AI policies which exclude the use of AI art or text in their own products. WotC's previous communications director Greg Tito cited WotC's stance on AI as "..one of the major reasons I left. People above me just didn't understand that basic concept."

On the flip side, many artists are being accused on social media of using AI when they haven't, with people using any imperfection in an art piece as evidence of AI creation.

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[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Anyone has a clue about how many of DriveThruRPG's customers are using this filter?
How many even knows the filter exists?

I know it exists, from this thread, and can't figure out how to turn it on for the books I sell.

I wonder if it's not fully implemented.

 

[aramis erak]

Panic about it is unproductive and irresponsible: horses didn't go away when cars were invented.

I live in farming country - mostly cattle farms - I've seen one horse ridden in the last 7 years... and that was the town parade...
I have seen fewer than a dozen horses on the farms nearby. A few thousand cattle, ahundred or so sheep, a dozen horses, and no horse doing labor save in the parade. And that one horse was brought in by its rider from the neighboring county!

Sure, the Amish and Mennonites still use horses, but the automobile lead to the mechanical tractor, and that largely displaced animal labor on farms in the US, leading to, outside of the quasi-luddite religious groups' communities, relegating horses to "super expensive pets"...

Cellphones haven't killed landlines, but Skype and Discord are posed to do so, and they definitely have rendered payphones a rarity (last payphone I used required a credit card; no coin acceptor - Seattle-Tacoma Int'l - 8 years ago). Anchorage still had a bunch back then, but they were not repaired nor replaced if damaged... save at the bus terminals, airports, and hospitals.

I only have a landline because of it coming with and the company requiring a landline for internet when we obtained service; dropping it would increase the costs...

AI will reduce the demand for artists and devalue human effort. The question is not "if," it's "when," and "How much?"

 

[MongooseBella]

I know it exists, from this thread, and can't figure out how to turn it on for the books I sell.

I wonder if it's not fully implemented.

It's there for us, but I missed it until Meredith (our DriveThru Person) pointed it out. Not sure if it is there for everyone, though Hoping the picture makes it easier to find if it is

 

[Morrus]

View attachment 387147

It's there for us, but I missed it until Meredith (our DriveThru Person) pointed it out. Not sure if it is there for everyone, though Hoping the picture makes it easier to find if it is

Ah, there it is! And with that, all 924 of our products are now "Handcrafted'!

 

[CleverNickName]

Anyone has a clue about how many of DriveThruRPG's customers are using this filter?
How many even knows the filter exists?

I use it; I think it's helpful. Before they added the filter, I'd been self-policing my purchases there (and everywhere else), not buying something unless the creator(s) specifically say that no AI was used at all on the product. I still have to do that today, but at least the filter weeds out dozens of them for me first.

 

[Anon Adderlan]

Simply put, the enforcement is not worth the witch hunts. It's the Red Scare for AI, and we all saw how that turned out.

Yeah, we’ve heard that all before. It’s pretty standard stuff, oft repeated.

Fortunately there are various court cases in process right now which will actually decide whether it’s plagiarism or not.

Then here's something less standard: You cannot violate copyright with work which cannot be copyright. So are you suggesting AI generated media be protected by copyright?

AI will reduce the demand for artists and devalue human effort.

Just like photography did. Meanwhile it will enable the artists who use it properly to achieve their vision in ways they would otherwise not be able to within their lifetime.

 

[Starfox]

I live in farming country - mostly cattle farms - I've seen one horse ridden in the last 7 years... and that was the town parade...
I have seen fewer than a dozen horses on the farms nearby. A few thousand cattle, ahundred or so sheep, a dozen horses, and no horse doing labor save in the parade. And that one horse was brought in by its rider from the neighboring county!

On a tangent, here in Sweden there have never been more horses than today - we have more horses now than in the year 1900 wen most everything was still horse-drawn. Riding is a huge hobby here, and it is common to see small farms converted to horse ranches. Horse riding stadiums (which in our climate need to be indoors) compete well with hockey rinks and soccer fields for county funding.

 

[Morrus]

Then here's something less standard: You cannot violate copyright with work which cannot be copyright. So are you suggesting AI generated media be protected by copyright?

I am not suggesting anything. I merely pointed (6 weeks ago) out that the courts are currently deciding these issues, and this guesswork is meaningless. We'll know what the legal situation is soon enough.

 

[Starfox]

I am not suggesting anything. I merely pointed (6 weeks ago) out that the courts are currently deciding these issues, and this guesswork is meaningless. We'll know what the legal situation is soon enough.

I don't agree. First, what the courts decide will only apply in some countries. Second, whatever the courts decide, the ethical question remains. Courts don't resolve ethical issues, they resolve conflicts of interest.

 

[Morrus]

I don't agree. First, what the courts decide will only apply in some countries.

Sure, non-signatories to the Berne convention (which 181 countries are signatories to) are not part of the global copyright system. That's not a new thing or anything unique to AI. The courts will simply decide whether or not this is a copyright issue, and if so then it's international law as normal with any copyright violation.

Second, whatever the courts decide, the ethical question remains. Courts don't resolve ethical issues, they resolve conflicts of interest.

I said 'legal' not 'ethical'. I'm not particularly interested in a yet another armchair law student debate about ethics and law. I did all those when I was a teenager, and a billion times since on the internet and it's always the exact same conversation. I'm just talking about what I'm talking about.