WotC Updates D&D's AI Policy After YouTuber's False Accusations

This awesome art by Nestor Ossandón is not AI​

Following a YouTuber falsely accusing an artist who worked for WotC of using AI based on "something feeling off" in a widely watched (but now deleted) video, Wizards of the Coast has updated its AI policy.

For 50 years, D&D has been built on the innovation, ingenuity, and hard work of talented people who sculpt a beautiful, creative game. That isn't changing. Our internal guidelines remain the same with regards to artificial intelligence tools: We require artists, writers, and creatives contributing to the D&D TTRPG to refrain from using AI generative tools to create final D&D products. We work with some of the most talented artists and creatives in the world, and we believe those people are what makes D&D great.

The YouTuber in question is Taron Pounds, username 'Indestructoboy', and made his now deleted video because, in his words, 'something felt incredibly off'. He's an ENnie-winning game designer, and has since posted an apology on Twitter:

I contributed to "rage bait" content this year after the OGL situation. That's on me. If I was frustrated by a situation, I felt compelled to say something to the camera. That's just not okay. I bought in hard on the "anti-WotC" train and should have just put my energy elsewhere.

Rage-bait videos are a problematic part of not just the D&D community, but on YouTube in general--as a massive Doctor Who fan, my YouTube feed is full of similar stuff about that show. The D&D stuff I see is overwhelmingly negative about how D&D is dying (it isn't, by the way). Unfortunately, that's what YouTube incentivises, and that's what gets the thousands of clicks: video thumbnails with big text, a controversial statement or question, probably a big shocked face, and a giant question mark or arrow, or maybe a jagged cartoony graph trending downwards. It's important to realise that just because that's what gets the clicks, it doesn't make it true. It is, however, a massive part of what drives the community narrative at the moment.

A shout-out should go to Christian Hoffer, who took the time to actually email the artist in question, who confirmed--with evidence--that the art was completely human generated. The YouTuber did not even make that basic step. You can read his report on Twitter here (and you should follow him if you're still on that site). The artist in question is Nestor Ossandón, who responded to Hoffer as follows.

First of all, I do not use artificial intelligence (NOT AI) for my work and no one but you and my director have asked me. And that image is completely painted. It is one of my favorite recent jobs that I have been able to do. And if you see other old works, you can see that my tendency is very similar when it comes to painting. I always play with warm and cold ones on my face. Thanks to the work together with the art director. They give me the freedom and appropriate time to develop it. This character is completely painted from scratch with a gray and superimposed color technique. Then I paint the cold tones to give atmosphere and light. It took me more than two weeks and my director was very happy with this work.

To be clear, Nestor Ossandón did not use AI to create the above art.

The artist provided proof (not that they should have to) which Hoffer posted on Twitter.

​

There's not much real journalism that goes on in the tiny corner of the world that is the TTRPG industry; it’s still a niche topic, although it’s more popular than it’s ever been. I myself do not consider myself as such--I report on stuff, but I don't investigate stuff, and my contribution is not much more than simple reportage and aggregation (not that I undervalue that--I've been doing it for 24 years now, and folks still read it, and I recognise my own value!) Christian Hoffer (ComicBook.com), Lin Codega (laid off from iO9, but hopefully they will find a new outlet soon), Christopher Helton (retired) and other folks like that are great examples of journalism in this little industry. YouTube... there's a lot of great, informative, fun stuff on there, and there are folks I follow and enjoy, but you should be careful!

(Edit—I had some examples of video thumbnails here but I don’t want to give the impression they are related to this AI art episode.)

 

[dpro]

I recognise my own value!

So do I! Keep the good stuff coming!

 

[CM]

In particular I hate the lazy form of "journalism" that's all too common these days: "Here's how people are reacting to ___" and it's just some twitter posts. I make it a point to avoid sites and channels that promote this kind of garbage, and refuse to even click on the ragebait story/video thumbnails mentioned in this thread.

 

[Bolongo]

Lumping Professor Dungeonmaster in with those others is a great example of reporting, not investigating.
But I suppose he brings it on himself by having those clickbaity thumbnails.

 

[Morrus]

I don’t follow any YouTubers, so forgive my ignorance, but what channel(s) are those screenshots at the bottom from?

This isn’t meant as an advert! It’s probably best not to include them. You can easily find that sort of thing with a quick search on TouTube though.

 

[Parmandur]

If you ever wonder about Wizards commitment to real art here’s why. They license that art. It’s an asset. AI art can’t be.

View attachment 340771

A good thread.

People keep assuming that companies like Hasbro will embrace AI art to "cut costs"...but they cut IP profits, ao they are disincentivized to embrace ir. Smaller companies seem to be the owna goong for the cost savings, not the big guns.

 

[teitan]

I've been on a soapbox against influencers for a couple years now. Cancerous growths.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

People seem to forget that inside every faceless corporation are good people doing their best under difficult circumstances.

 

[Morrus]

than I do from any of these highly produced "10 Tips to Make You an Awesome GM!" videos.

I’m not the target audience for that stuff, but it is positive in nature.

 

[RareBreed]

I feel badly for Ossandón. Thanks for posting this, @Morrus. I'm glad he was exonerated, and I'm hopeful we don't see these kinds of accusations blossom, but I fear we'll see more.

The sad thing is that he shouldn't have to be exonerated at all: innocent until proven guilty. The onus was on the accuser to show guilt, not that Ossandon should have to show proof or evidence of his innocence.

As Morrus pointed out, this is all rage bait, and people want to declare guilt until proven innocent (and even then, maybe not). I also find it interesting that people are quick to judge on AI. Because so many want to portray AI in a bad light, most folks are all too ready to assume guilt.

Recently, a novel LLM proved a mathematical theory that has eluded humans. This goes to show that LLM's are not just stochastic parrots that just steal from human derived works and file the serial numbers off (and sometimes not even that). But because most people want to blame AI, it's all too easy to fall into the rage bait trap. I have my own concerns about AI, but immediate prejudice against it shouldn't be one of them.

EDIT: fixed some atrocious grammar

 

[Zardnaar]

I only watch Dungeon Dudes regularly. I've seen sone of the others and yeah they've gone negative since the OGL thing.

I don't mind negative if it's about WotC.

Nega8ve speculation not so much.

D&D can really only die if MtG or Hasbro itself gets in strife.

So if Magic collapses, One D&D tanks and all the software side of things go belly up then yeah that's a conversation.