D&D General Would It Matter To You if D&D Books Were Illustrated by AI Instead of Humans?

[Hexmage-EN]

AI image generators such as Dall-E 2, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion allow anyone to enter in a prompt for an AI trained on potentially billions of images to have it produce artworks that would take human artists far longer to create. Though they currently have shortcomings such as difficulty getting hands right, the technology is advancing quickly enough that even now there are D&D DMs and players using AI image generators to quickly create reasonably good images for their characters, NPCs, and locations.

The recent Spelljammer book was full of art, with WotC noting the higher than normal art budget. However, reviewers have bemoaned the lack of other content even as they appreciate the visuals. If they cared to, WotC could one day soon utilize an AI image generator to produce nice looking images with a much, much lower art budget. For example, they could hypothetically use an AI art generator to create images in the style of DiTerlizzi for the upcoming Planescape book.

Professional artists are obviously worried about being replaced, but for the end consumer will it matter who or what made the illustrations in a D&D book? I'm curious to see where opinions lie on this here.

 

[overgeeked]

Professional artists are obviously worried about being replaced, but for the end consumer will it matter who or what made the illustrations in a D&D book? I'm curious to see where opinions lie on this here.

Yes, it matters. For one-person game companies, one-offs, or other small-time operations, it makes perfect sense to use free or cheap art. It's not really all that different than using public domain or stock art. But for bigger companies? No way. You have the money to pay an artist, pay an artist.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Professional artists are obviously worried about being replaced, but for the end consumer will it matter who or what made the illustrations in a D&D book? I'm curious to see where opinions lie on this here.

I mean .... what if it's Meta's BlenderBot3 making the illustrations?


Yeah ... be careful what you wish for.

 

[Yaarel]

I put, No, artificial intelligence images wouldnt matter to me.

However, I disagree with "instead of". I prefer AI "along with humans".

Even when a human selects an AI image, it is the human who is being the artist.

That said, the AI artwork is "real" art, with an astonishing mastery of artistic "composition", including the use of space, line, color, and so on.

 

[Mind of tempest]

look until they make an AI person I am against ai artists as it takes away a job the people honestly like doing and that is horrible.

 

[Malmuria]

For example, they could hypothetically use an AI art generator to create images in the style of DiTerlizzi for the upcoming Planescape book.

AI art depends on the work of illustrators. It needs large, free availability of images in order to generate artwork. I've seen people generate some cool, surreal images, but there is an ethics to actual creators--especially the one large corporation in this hobby--paying artists.

Plus, it might change as the technology gets better, but right now I don't think you can satisfyingly generate something in the style of DiTerlizzi, his art being very personal and expressive.

 

[Yaarel]

AI images for photorealistic faces: thispersondoesnotexist.

Refresh the screen for a new face. Each face is unique. Make sure you save it if you want it, or it is gone.

 

[Yaarel]

For Dalle and other text-prompted images, it is known issue that the constructed images tend to be racist, sexist, antigay, and so on.

Any AI that relies on the internet for data ends up being somewhat evil.

Of course, this criticism is about the human source, the things people say on the internet and the images they post.

The AI is merely an echo of what humans are doing.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

Would it matter to you if Dungeons and Dragons books were written by Artificial Intelligence instead of humans?

I've been playing around with GPT to help me get more work done. Now I'm going to go ask it to create some optional rules and see what I get.

 

[Ath-kethin]

Will it bother me? Depends on what they do with the AI.

Do they use it to dupe/ape another artist's style, to in effect get DiTerlizzi art without having to pay DiTerlizzi for it? Then yes, it bothers me.

Will they use it but still claim that increased costs are due to having more art? Then yes, it bothers me.

Will they use it in lieu of actual usable content, since clicking "refresh" on a website is way cheaper than paying writers, editors, etc.? Then yes, it bothers me.

Can I think of any reasons to use AI art aside from those listed above? No I can't, so yes, it bothers me.

 

[Yaarel]

Would it matter to you if Dungeons and Dragons books were written by Artificial Intelligence instead of humans?

Hopefully AI will soon help design excellent gaming mechanics, even modularity.

 

[Blue Orange]

The couple of times I tried those things with human figures I got some serious body horror, but I'm sure they'll fix it eventually.

I dunno. Since the AI has to be trained on existing art, I suspect artists will try to find new styles and that will probably prolong the artists' tenure somewhat. That said we may see a movement toward abstract or non-figurative art. I will admit I personally do not like abstract art and am much less excited about anything past the early 20th century. But, of course, you can make a more realistic picture in 2 seconds with your phone camera than Vermeer ever could...

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

The couple of times I tried those things with human figures I got some serious body horror, but I'm sure they'll fix it eventually.

I dunno. Since the AI has to be trained on existing art, I suspect artists will try to find new styles and that will probably prolong the artists' tenure somewhat. That said we may see a movement toward abstract or non-figurative art. I will admit I personally do not like abstract art and am much less excited about anything past the early 20th century. But, of course, you can make a more realistic picture in 2 seconds with your phone camera than Vermeer ever could...

You should try it again. Artificial Intelligence has crossed a tipping point and is now moving at light speed. Getting better by the week.

 

[Alzrius]

AI images for photorealistic faces: thispersondoesnotexist.

Refresh the screen for a new face. Each face is unique. Make sure you save it if you want it, or it is gone.

I'm already imagining a horror story where someone goes to that site, and the face they see...is their own.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

You should try it again. Artificial Intelligence has crossed a tipping point and is now moving at light speed. Getting better by the week.

Yeah, at this rate AI image generators will be able to outperform any human artist probably within the year, both in quality and speed. I'm already seeing people use them to get custom character portraits of their D&D characters much faster and cheaper than they ever could have by commissioning a human artist.

The question is if consumers will be okay with this. There's already been a case of Capitol Records attempting to partner with a company called Factory New to use an AI rapper called FN Meka with the explicit purpose of using the AI to replace looking for new musicians. The backlash was so swift and severe that Capitol Records dropped the deal and one of the spokespeople for Factory New has left the company and distanced himself from the project. That doesn't mean that will always be the case, though.

 

[Alzrius]

For more thoughts on AI art in the context of RPGs, I'd recommend reading some of Owen K. C. Stephens' thoughts on the subject over on his blog. He brings up several points that are interesting to consider.

AI Art – Owen K.C. Stephens

Posts about AI Art written by okcstephens

owenkcstephens.com

 

[RangerWickett]

Eventually, you'll be able to just have the book written by AI. And the game could be played by AI too.

 

[Argyle King]

Somewhat...

I watched the new Beavis & Butthead movie. Despite the artwork being "better" (in that it was made using modern methods,) it took something away from the feel of the show.

This isn't limited to AI, but I find that a lot of contemporary art looks too clean. It's lacking something.

I don't know how to explain it, but I find less-perfect artwork more enjoyable.

That doesn't mean that I want bad artwork. But there's something about computerized art (and movie CGI) which doesn't look quite right. I don't know how to explain why or what seems off about it, but it's something.

 

[Stormonu]

If it can look as decent as the first post, I don't care who does it.

 

[Yaarel]

Somewhat...

I watched the new Beavis & Butthead movie. Despite the artwork being "better" (in that it was made using modern methods,) it took something away from the feel of the show.

This isn't limited to AI, but I find that a lot of contemporary art looks too clean. It's lacking something.

I don't know how to explain it, but I find less-perfect artwork more enjoyable.

That doesn't mean that I want bad artwork. But there's something about computerized art (and movie CGI) which doesn't look quite right. I don't know how to explain why or what seems off about it, but it's something.

In archeology, there is a shift from Roman Period ceramics to Byzantine Period ceramics.

The Roman stuff is extremely polished and technologically sophisticated, while the later Byzantine stuff is rougher and more handmade. At first the archeologists wondered if there was some kind of collapse in technology. But it turned out, the shift is strictly esthetic. The later cultures just preferred things to be more human and less polished.