AI art storms onto the tabletop RPG scene. By some counts, as many as 13 million users create over 2 million AI images per day, with as many as a million of those being traditional artists. AI is a technical revolution in media that will not disappear short of legal intervention. This revolution in AI art means creators must determine a policy for handling the new media.
Hoodwink Games has been slow to develop our policy for AI art due to strong opinions surrounding AI’s development. I have carefully considered arguments for and against use of AI art, including well-articulated opinions of artists and art directors including Caleb Havertape, a lead illustrator of Ark: Survival Evolved, and Christopher Bretz. Our policy considers the three main concerns surrounding AI:
AI art algorithm legality
AI art’s influence on product development
AI art’s replacement of traditional illustrators
With these considerations, Hoodwink Games’ policy for AI art is as follows:
Hoodwink Games commits to hire a human artist for every product where AI art is implemented and commits to pay human artists with both 1) an upfront payment AND 2) a percentage of profits from the product’s crowdfunding and/or sales.
Hoodwink Games will always abide by evolving legal regulations surrounding AI art and will attempt to independently verify AI generated images are unique enough to satisfy U.S. copyright rules for Fair Use.
Moreover, we commit to never use our artists’ artwork as reference images to generate AI images in their style.
Our primary concern is that human artists are never replaced or devalued. However, AI art enables us to create premium-level content we do not have the budget to otherwise create. Therefore, a combination of human and AI artist ensures human artists are never replaced at Hoodwink Games. Instead, human artists are supplemented by AI to create greater profits that can then be shared with our human collaborators to value their contributions.
This policy addresses each aforementioned concern and ensures Hoodwink Games’ continued ability to produce fantastic indie products while supporting artists in the gaming community.
If you have any questions about Hoodwink’s policy on AI art or about what AI art is in our products, please reach out any time at josiah@hoodwinkgaming.com.
Sincerely,
Josiah Mork