Paizo bans AI-created art and content in its publications

With the sudden emergence of low-cost, easy-to-use AI art and text generators changing the way various creative fields approach their businesses, ethical and legal questions about the use of computer-generated work are becoming more common and heated. RPG publisher Paizo, creator of scout And Star seekertook a hardline stance against AI-generated work, posting on social media and the company’s blog commit to “the work of human professionals” and promise a contractual ban on AI-generated art and text.

Paizo, which became the first tabletop role-playing company to unionize in 2021, has previously taken creator-centric stances, including entering into a legal battle over the Open Game License (OGL) that caused scout and many other Dungeons & Dragons-inspired games possible, and promising to help create and support an open-source “system-agnostic license” that could replace the OGL if Dungeons & Dragons owner Wizards of the Coast renews the license changes.

In the new posts, Paizo states that it is amending its contracts to add language to ensure all content is created by humans rather than machines, and plans to ban AI-generated work from its community markets as well .

In recent months, the world has seen a huge increase in the interest, use and quality of algorithm-generated images and text. Since we founded the company in 2002, Paizo has built its reputation with the help of countless traditional artists and writers, who are just as important to the success of our games as our in-house editors, art directors, designers and developers. The ethical and legal issues surrounding “AI art” and fast program writing – and the serious threat they pose to the livelihoods of partners who have helped us get to where we are today as a company – require us to take a strong stance against the use of this technology in Paizo products.

In the coming days, Paizo will add a new language to his creative contracts that stipulate that all work submitted to us for publication must be created by a human being. We will further add guidance to our Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite Program FAQs clarifying that AI-generated content is not allowed on either community content marketplace.

Our customers expect a human touch to our releases, and as long as the ethical and legal conditions surrounding these programs remain murky and undefined, we are unwilling to associate our brands with the technology in any way.

Simply put, when you buy a Paizo product, you can rest assured that it is the work of human professionals who have spent years honing their craft to produce the best work we can. Paizo won’t be using AI-generated “creative” work for the foreseeable future.

We thank the human artists and writers who have been such an integral part of our success in the past, and we look forward to working with them for many years to come.

The problem of detecting AI-created art and text remains, along with its difficulty moderating a deluge of new AI-generated content. At this point, Paizo’s statement is more about the intent and the rights of the creators than the execution. But given the conversations now underway about how easy it is to mimic human artists’ signature creative styles with AI, coming out of the gate with strong, specific policies sends a meaningful message that other companies are likely to take on board as well in the future. near future.