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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[Sacrosanct]

They just sent an email about it to publishers this week.

I went back and checked, and it looks like the filters were there as early as Sept 2023 (when I got this email)

 

[Morrus]

They've had this filter for a while now.

They had the ability to tag AI products as such, with an indicator on the product page--did they have that global user account setting/toggle before, though?

I went back and checked, and it looks like the filters were there as early as Sept 2023 (when I got this email)

View attachment 384701

That's a different filter to the one they just announced, I believe. The one they just announced is a global setting in your use account where you can set your account so that you never see AI stuff on the site.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

I feel like people who leave those sorts of reviews need to lose their ability to post comments online. Amazon is overrun with this nonsense.

I report every one I see, but I doubt it does a bleeping thing.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I personally welcome and support our AI overlords, and intend to collaborate to the fullest. But that's a personal choice.

For now.

 

[scott2978]

Sooner or later everyone will be dragged kicking and screaming into the AI art future. AI is a tool, not unlike a paintbrush in some ways, and the primary complaint that it plagiarizes other artists without permission is like saying anyone who sees a Picasso and then paints a picture is plagiarizing Picasso... No human artist ever created anything totally devoid of the influence of other artists' work to some degree, and even one artist literally copying another artist's work is a normal thing in the art world, including movie remakes. So long as an artist doesn't try to pass it off as the work of the original artist, there's nothing at all wrong with it, either legally or morally. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and all that. People who made a living in the textile industry had to get a grip when the spinning jenny was invented, and the same is going to happen to a lot of other industries as a result of AI. Panic about it is unproductive and irresponsible: horses didn't go away when cars were invented. Pandora's box is open, and for better or worse, we need to find a way to live in harmony with it, not try to plug the hole in the dyke with our thumb. This isn't a popular opinion, but it's the logical one. People railing against AI art is like people railing against social media... good luck with that. It's more productive to spend that energy finding a way to compromise the best vs the worst aspects of the new reality which is here to stay, and anyone trying in vain to hold the line will just be left behind as history flows around them into the inevitable future. AI is already poised to make hundreds of careers obsolete within ten years from now... AI art will be the least of your worries. I say rather than planting our heads in the sand by planting our flag, let's use this as a proving ground for dealing with it rationally and responsibly, because this is just the tip of a very big iceberg.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Sooner or later everyone will be dragged kicking and screaming into the AI art future.

Death first.

 

[Morrus]

Sooner or later everyone will be dragged kicking and screaming into the AI art future. AI is a tool, not unlike a paintbrush in some ways, and the primary complaint that it plagiarizes other artists without permission is like saying anyone who sees a Picasso and then paints a picture is plagiarizing Picasso... No human artist ever created anything totally devoid of the influence of other artists' work to some degree, and even one artist literally copying another artist's work is a normal thing in the art world, including movie remakes. So long as an artist doesn't try to pass it off as the work of the original artist, there's nothing at all wrong with it, either legally or morally. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and all that. People who made a living in the textile industry had to get a grip when the spinning jenny was invented, and the same is going to happen to a lot of other industries as a result of AI. Panic about it is unproductive and irresponsible: horses didn't go away when cars were invented. Pandora's box is open, and for better or worse, we need to find a way to live in harmony with it, not try to plug the hole in the dyke with our thumb. This isn't a popular opinion, but it's the logical one. People railing against AI art is like people railing against social media... good luck with that. It's more productive to spend that energy finding a way to compromise the best vs the worst aspects of the new reality which is here to stay, and anyone trying in vain to hold the line will just be left behind as history flows around them into the inevitable future. AI is already poised to make hundreds of careers obsolete within ten years from now... AI art will be the least of your worries. I say rather than planting our heads in the sand by planting our flag, let's use this as a proving ground for dealing with it rationally and responsibly, because this is just the tip of a very big iceberg.

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.

Welcome back, though. Your first post since 2014. Interesting choice!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

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

Hey, it turned out to be 100% true about cryptocurrency -- after all, all of us get our paychecks that way, right? -- and NFTs, so why wouldn't it be true here, on the next thing the tech VCs desperately want to be a success?

 

[scott2978]

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.

Welcome back, though. Your first post since 2014. Interesting choice!

Long time reader, lurker and supporter of ENWorld. Probably like the majority of visitors though, just not very vocal.

 

[Starfox]

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