I've been reading about the user revolt on the Twin Peaks subreddit calling for a ban on AI art. As best I can tell we don't really have people posting AI stuff here yet, but I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to ban it before it becomes a problem. I'm soliciting feedback from y'all on this, please let me know what you prefer.

all 44 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 12 points 1 year ago

I would be okay with a ban on AI generated content.

At the very least, I request a disclosure on any AI content.

So like, if you make a little RPG yourself and used some AI tool to make the art, you are required to disclose that. Likewise, if the flavor text for some of your game came from an AI, would-be consumers should be alerted. Heck, if it was used in the editing phase put that in the ai disclosure blurb.

  • source
  • [–] 42 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Ban GenAI.

    As RPG enjoyers, we have an obligation to support smaller creators that ensure the hobby isn't just DnD.

  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [+] -8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    I'm afraid the result will be exactly opposite. A lot of smaller creators use AI in some form (some better, some worse), where one most probably won't ban D&D from community named "rpg" because, even with the hatred from non-D&D crowd, the interest is too big to not address it

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 21 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    If someone doesn't care enough about their product to actually do work on it, why should I care about looking at it? If I wanted to see AI generated slop, I'd go to one of the many megacorps that'll generate it for me rather than paying some guy on Itch.io.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] -1 points 1 year ago

    That is right. But that is not what all AIGen stuff is. If someone creates a cool adventure but uses AIGen to make their fluff box sound like a radio speaker because they lack the skills to make it so, is that a not caring enough?

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    This is indeed the thing, there is a long road between using an AI powered spell checker, and a full AI generated game.

    Let's go further, if a volunteer uses their deepl subscription to translate an indie game they like (with the author's permission) , and do a manual review afterward. The kind of stuff you can sometimes do for your player, is it AI slop?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] [S, M] 17 points 1 year ago*

    Thanks everyone for your feedback. I get that this is a contentious issue, and I appreciate everyone being nice to eachother (and me) while discussing it. (Those of you that didn't, you know who you are)

    Based on the upvoted comments and the arguments that I found most cogent, I will be banning generative AI in the community.

    A few related issues were raised, and I'd like to explain how I intend to address them:

    https://ttrpg.network/post/26260249/17201676 Rhaedus raised concerns about the difficulty in determining if something is AI generated or not. As with all rule enforcement on this site, I'll be relying on you all to report suspected violations, and I promise I'll give you my best-effort attempt to make a fair judgement.

    https://ttrpg.network/post/26260249/17206513 Carl and others raised concerns that this might impact posts predominantly about human-created content that have some trivial or incidental amount of AI generated comment. In such a situation, if the use of Gen AI is really that minimal, it would never come to my attention in the first place, and therefore wouldn't get removed anyway.

    Several users advocated for an explicit carve out for discussions about the use of AI, which is a good idea and will be included in the rule.

    Thank you again for your input and your civility.

  • source
  • [+] 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    I participate in the open source community and there's a huge number of models for the people and we (as in normal people) also steal everything we can. Main difference is money: as a whole we steal more than Meta, but Meta can afford to put it all together and pay millions to train out a model.

    Open source AI can be argued to be overtaking corpo efforts, or at least in some areas. Maybe in awhile people will stop assuming AI is synonymous with monolithic corpos.

    Does anyone here know what 'ft' means? A LoRa adapter? I hardly ever see people talk about AI. They seem to just refer to the surface or the vague idea of it.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] -3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    If you want to ban anything that isn't "open source" you're going to hit a lot more than just generative AI. Not to mention that there are open models and open source gen AI tools, so you're not even banning generative AI that way.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [+] 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] -1 points 1 year ago

    You closed with "No AI." It doesn't feel like a straw man. It's fine to say no corporate AI but that might be even harder to single out.

    I'm personally looking into domain specific fine tunes of small, open source models that can compete with larger models in at least one small area - specifically in roleplaying, though my interest is creating a chat bot to facilitate group gaming, not generating systems or art.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago

    Ban that shit!

  • source
  • [–] 25 points 1 year ago

    I don't see much value in providing storage and bandwidth for things that people didn't put enough of themselves into to bother lifting a pencil. There are enough boosters for that sort of thing out there already that they can do the job of supporting them with material resources.

  • source
  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    @sirblastalotProbably calls for an exception for specifically discussing when a large company (mis)uses "AI", so as not to silence outcry against it.Concerning those advocating that people "just downvote it"... 1) not everyone who participates in this community does so through a system that allows downvotes (Mastodon doesn't), and 2) IME, people who post "AI" content willy-nilly tend to be so bad at people that they don't understand when they're being told off, even directly.

  • source
  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I personally think it is a good idea. I know I posted about AI in a game I am running, but I was looking for human input about AI behavior to transfer into a game. I am doing my best create the AI manually and with no actual use of AI (a task far harder than I anticipated).

    I see nothing of value that AI could add to this industry, and thus this community.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago

    I support a ban on genAI content.

  • source
  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    Yes, always

  • source
  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    I think in general it's a good idea for all AI generated content to be categorically separate from their authentic counterparts. I don't participate in this community.

  • source
  • Don't see a problem with it, let the voting system decide if it's popular in the comm

  • source
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    IMO AI isn't bad in itself. It only becomes bad when it gets overused. When someone rolls the statistical dice instead of having something to say. Or to pad three points that would fit into one post, into three posts with a wall of text each

    So for now I would not ban it, as the community does not seem to have a problem with AI-generated content
    I agree with the other comment proposing that it has to be marked. That way at least the subset that will be adhering to that rule can be measured

    And if/when that time comes, I think the rule would have to remember about gray area: if AI-gen would be banned here, would that mean that products that used AI should also be banned?
    I mean, for example, I know of some products on DTRPG that have good contents but they used AI for pictures. Most often, because they are just one guy without any budget. Would such ban mean that I shouldn't point someone to that product?

  • source
  • [–] -4 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    AI is just a tool. if some have a philosophical or moral problem with it then they can abstain.

    AI not going away, and its use will only increase. so I'm the long term it will either have to be allowed, or this sub will fade into obsolescence.

    I see no value in banning it.

  • source
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [+] 11 points 1 year ago (4 children)
  • [–] -5 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    if it drowns out everything else, it means that it's being upvoted. if it's being upvoted, then it means the community likes it. I see no issue with a preponderance of content coming from a single tool when the community is ultimately capable of moderating it just like any other content. why should I not be allowed to upvote something that I like because it came from AI, just because other people have a moral objection to it? I respect their right to object, but I don't think they should be able to force those values onto me. if that is their goal, then they need to articulate an issue and be persuasive, not make rules in communities in which I'm a participant.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    > if it’s being uploaded, then it means the community likes it

    That really isn't how the Internet works at all. Someone uploading something just means that that person likes it. It's not like they're uploading based on the collective psychic demands of the rest of the community.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    "AI is just a tool" is not how anyone uses AI. They treat AI like a free employee who will do the work for them. Note how people don't say it replaces a paintbrush, but that it replaces a commissioned artist.

    "AI is not going away" is just a lie, making it seem inevitable so you stop fighting it. Just like how bitcoin is going to revolutionise currency, and now NFTs are the future.

    I see complete justification in banning the garbage output from the world-burning nazi-built plagiarism machine.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    'People say it's a tool, but they use it for the thing it does!' ... what?

    How else could you use generative AI, except to generate a thing for you?

    Most things that could be commissioned - aren't. The money is never spent. The money isn't real. No one is robbed when a robot does the thing instead, because what it's instead of, is the thing not happening.

    You cannot kvetch about this replacing all artists forever and still insist it's a flash in the pan. The tech works. You can run it on your own computer, to-day. It plainly serves a desirable purpose. That alone makes comparisons to NFTs as spurious as those dolts insisting 'people doubted the internet.'

    Any visions of this blowing over should've vanished when it became a porn faucet.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    How is that confusing to you? A hammer is a tool, and a hammer does not replace a carpenter. Tools do not replace creatives. Logically following, since AI is used to replace creatives, AI is not used like a tool.

    How else could you use generative AI, except to generate a thing for you?

    You seem to think this is a point in gen AI's favour.

    You cannot kvetch about this replacing all artists forever and still insist it’s a flash in the pan.

    You're right. Which is why I didn't say forever. People are using it to replace artists, and it's going to die off soon. Those are not contradictory.

    It plainly serves a desirable purpose.

    False. Making art is desirable. Having art is only desirable if you like the art, and AI images make me nauseous (not hyperbole). Nausea is not desirable. If you think having is better than making, you aren't a creative.

    That alone makes comparisons to NFTs as spurious as those dolts insisting ‘people doubted the internet.’

    People did doubt the internet. We have articles. But people also massively over-hyped the internet, leading to the dot com bubble. I think comparing a tech bubble to a tech bubble is a fair comparison, especially since it's the same people peddling a new brand of snake oil.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
    [–] -1 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    If you ban it. It feeds until the delusion that they're persecuted.

    I think the right move is always allowing it, but requiring a tag [ai] so it's obvious.

    If people don't like it, they can down vote it. Or block accounts that always post it.

    If the people posting it don't want down votes, they can post to one of many explicitly pro-ai coms where mods ban people for down voting.

    The only issue may be the ai fans are probably going to build bots to upvote anything tagged as AI. They tend to be weird and really care about votes.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Just be careful with your definition. Here's some things that are "generative AI":

    • Speech recognition
    • Zillions of AI tools in photo editors (e.g. "remove background" or tools that let you mask subjects). Yes, all generative AI.
    • All sorts of title/logo generators.
    • Upscaling tools.

    Think about the reason why you want to ban generative AI: Is it because it sucks? Or because you have something against training AI models with images posted publicly to the Internet? Is it the environmental impact of data centers?

    Be clear in your ban statement as to your reasoning so it doesn't seem arbitrary and capricious.

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago

    > Speech recognition

    Isn't generative, by standard usage of the term.

    >(e.g. “remove background” or tools that let you mask subjects). Yes, all generative AI.

    They are not. Not everything leverages a SVM or even a neural network is "generative AI". That's a disingenuous conflation of terms and technology.

    > All sorts of title/logo generators.

    So?

    > Upscaling tools.

    Are't "generative" in the context used here.

    Generally speaking, sufficiently vague and plastic rules that are able to allow for things like "context" and don't provide wiggle room for "insufferable bad-faith assholes" are best employed for things like this.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    All of those were around prior to generative AI. You're thinking of other types of AI like machine learning.

    That's not to say companies aren't now using generative AI for these things, but as we've seen the implementations are often worse then their machine learning counterparts (See YouTube AI captions).

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    You're thinking of other types of AI like machine learning.

    That’s all generative AI is. Machine learning applied to tasks like image generation and text generation. It’s all the same stuff. The difference between something that detects parts of an image and something that generates parts of an image is in application.

    Edit: Why am I getting downvoted? I’m not making any value statements about generative AI here.

  • source
  • parent
  • [+] -4 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • And jerking off is better with some lube. Doesn't mean this is the place to show off the pics. What you do in the privacy of your own home, or at your own table, actually isn't especially well correlated to what someone else might be interested in hosting for you.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] -4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Drama that deepens prejudice.

    People insist it's low-quality. And if it's good, then it's robbing artists. And if you've never commissioned an artist in your life, then it's anti-environmental. And if running it locally barely warmed your video card, then it's theft. And if you'd otherwise borrow images from online... then shut up. Shut up is why it's bad.

    I'd understand marking it, because some people still don't recognize it. But when they do they try to un-feel whatever reaction they just had. Oh that clever idea was illustrated by a robot? Then it means nothing, lacks intent, isn't art, fnord fnord etc. The minature version of tearing posters off your wall, insisting you never liked your favorite band.

    Folks, the robot that draws anything isn't going anywhere. Make your peace. The software is aggressively available for local use, apparently simple enough that tech-bro douchebags can figure it out, and most damningly, was immediately adopted for pornography. It could at worst be chased underground... but it won't be. You will see people make things with this tech, when they otherwise couldn't, and at some point your distaste has to end.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [+] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] -3 points 1 year ago

    Your performative hatred is boring. People did the same chest-beating ingroup behaviors, whining about CGI. Oh so artists don't need anatomy and composition? It just does tweening for you? This sucks, that's cheating, you only used a computer. It's not real art.

    Obviously CGI is a lot better now, versus when people where declaring they'd die mad about Tin Toy. But that's the point: this tech has existed for like three years. What it does for free will be taken for granted. Nobody's impressed that Pixar movies are animated on-ones. Nobody will be impressed when movies animated without actors still look and sound real.

    The point is the story, the visuals, the edit - the experience of watching something humans put together, using whatever tools exist. Your reasons to complain will dissolve. If the complaints continue anyway, the words never mattered.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (-1 replies)