Every day, it feels like a new AI art app or use is being touted as the future of art and design that promises faster workflows. But a new line is being drawn in the fight against AI art, and it comes from the video game industry.
According to video game director and freelance artist Trent Kaniuga, whose clients include Blizzard, Riot Games, Capcom and Epic Games, many video game companies now contractually require artists not to use AI in their work. I’m here.
It’s common for artists in the video game industry to oppose the use of AI, as demonstrated by the hijacking of the ArtStation homepage in protest. But for a video game company to take such action is a big step towards the professional use of AI art. The problem seems to be copyright related. If video game companies can’t guarantee that their assets are wholly created and wholly owned, problems can compound in the future.
AI art is currently banned by many major game development studios due to “potential copyright legal issues.” Many older clients have recently amended their contracts to end their use of AI art. This is in line with what I predicted in some of the first videos on the subject.March 27, 2023
Artist Kaniuga wrote on Twitter (above): Consistent with what I predicted in some of my first videos on the subject. “
Kaniuga said the request came from a former employee, and given that his resume includes Activision-Blizzard and Riot Games, those and others are making the request. However, the artist does not acknowledge this.
Ai Art Generator works by scraping images on the internet and reusing parts of these photos and paintings to create “new” art. Internet-connected AI generators expose users to potentially copyrighted material. Essentially, AI art generators are “trained” on data collected without the owner’s approval.
The big question is whether the ban on AI art can be maintained. Speed ​​up the iteration and early concept art stages on paper with an AI art generator. Artists have to create dozens, if not hundreds, of variations of a theme. Similarly, creating hundreds of 3D assets and props could be a good use of AI. AI may work if it only uses art from the studio’s internal art team.
The danger is that if a copyrighted image is scraped and used, the studio can no longer guarantee that it owns all of the video game’s assets. Many studios want to make sure that art created for their games doesn’t end up anywhere else. It can be very difficult to distinguish between human art and AI art. For example, the artist Ben Moran got banned from Reddit for using AI when in reality he didn’t.
In addition, under US law, video game studios cannot copyright or protect game art created by AI. As reported by ArtNews (opens in new tab)the U.S. Copyright Office issued a statement, believing that text-to-image AI art is akin to “instructions to commissioned artists.”
USCO keeps the door open to AI art protected under copyright law, adding:
https://t.co/Qa2vEGgglMpic.twitter.com/ISFaEYoW5HMarch 21, 2023
This final USCO statement gives video game developers room to use AI art and AI generators in the future. Many major video game studios are working on developing their own AI apps to ensure they have control over what they train their AI to be. For example, Ubisoft has developed its own AI called Ghostwriter, which scripts the phrases and dialogue of common non-player characters (NPCs).
The initial reaction was acrimonious and confusing (above), with God of War: Raganarok game director Cory Barlog arguing that it could cause more problems to solve.
Sony Santa Monica Writer alana pierce (opens in new tab) Not tolerating, he wrote on Twitter: Instead, use tools like this to hire more writers. “
The major studios are clearly losing a lot at this point by allowing AI art into their workflows, but gamers aren’t enthusiastic, but indies are already seeing the usefulness of AI. Last summer’s game created using it is now on Steam.
Puzzle GamesThis Girl Does Not Exist (opens in new tab) became terrible The game developer Cute Pen Games when it hit Steam claimed that everything in the game was generated by AI, including the art, story, and music. Players piece the woman’s face together from puzzle pieces to unlock the prompts used in its creation. This is like a scary dating sim that always ends up alone.
The reality is that the video game industry can’t sleep on AI art generators and the use of AI in general, and indies can definitely benefit from this technology. However, the issue of copyright usage raises legal and ethical concerns. I’d bet most major game studios would develop their own AI with controllable parameters.
In addition, releases such as Adobe Firefly and Nvidia-backed TurboSquid AI (for generating game assets) are trained only on publisher-owned assets, allowing artists to upload images for use and earn royalties. showing the way to AI.
The video game industry may be moving away from AI, but there is no doubt that it will make a big leap when the time and legal issues are right.
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