Ai generated content and ethics

[Nobody Cares]

I'm trying to photoshop together a cover for one of my next projects. The artist I usually hire is not available and I'm having a very hard time finding someone else with the same skill and in the same price range. I was considering trying putting together a cover using some of the ai generated content I usually toy around with, which I normally would not publish.
They look pretty good, yet with all the controversy surrounding AI Generated content and visual artists, I'm not sure this is ethically correct.

Here is my question:
Would it be ok to photoshop some ai generated images to make a cover for my next game?
Bear in mind:
- I'm asking if it would be ethically correct, not simply legal (that is another matter altogether). I love visual arts and I really don't want to hurt a community I really respect, even slightly, even indirectly.
- The game would be shared for free, not sold.
- The images themselves would NOT be nsfw
- The game itself would be text base and VERY nsfw, not as much as my other project, but still pretty hardcore.

I'm asking for your personal opinion, so feel free to rant out if you believe you should.

 

[Tompte]

I think the cat's out of the bag with AI. At this point, it definitely leaves a bad taste in many people's mouths, not just because of the copyright controversy but also because we've gotten really good at identifying AI-generated art. They have this really boring and generic look that doesn't really resonate with people.

Frankly, on a personal level, I think most AI generated art (especially anime-based) is kind of trash. Generic-ass anime girls just doesn't look as good as when drawn by an artist who knows what they're doing. It does nothing for me. Even if you stay away from that style, you can very easily tell when something wasn't drawn by a human.

So ask yourself if you're okay with people knowing you used a bot for your key art, I guess.

 

[Nobody Cares]

Here is an example. I think it looks pretty good.

 

[Tompte]

This is hard to explain because yeah, if I squint, sure, I could convince myself that's a beautiful painting. It's very "art station".

But to a more critical eye, it's very incoherent. It's a pretty face and it kind of looks like she's looking at me, but she's not. It's oddly smudgy, yet sharp. Her necklace just disappears halfway up her neck. It has a bunch of borrowed elements that don't fit together. Things like that. Yeah, these are nit-picks but together they make the whole thing kind of "off", and that's what I mean. These are side-effects of the way the AI models work. Once you've seen one, you've kind of seen them all, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Losersriot]

Some guy ask about AI-pic 'ethic' in... PORN page !!!!

 

[Nobody Cares]

This is hard to explain because yeah, if I squint, sure, I could convince myself that's a beautiful painting. It's very "art station".

But to a more critical eye, it's very incoherent. It's a pretty face and it kind of looks like she's looking at me, but she's not. It's oddly smudgy, yet sharp. Her necklace just disappears halfway up her neck. It has a bunch of borrowed elements that don't fit together. Things like that. Yeah, these are nit-picks but together they make the whole thing kind of "off", and that's what I mean. These are side-effects of the way the AI models work. Once you've seen one, you've kind of seen them all, but that's just my opinion.

I agree. I don't think it will ever truly replace an actual artist, much like a text generator can hardly replace a real writer. Still, its a lot better than what I would accomplish on my own, I believe with a bit of photoshopping it would get the job done.
Question is, should I?

 

[Canto Forte]

People use DAZ and Photoshopa lot- those are AI generated huge databases of algorhytms
that generate beautiful girls as much as Koikatsu does or even Skyrim in the character creation.
We all know actual artist IS THE ONE WHO FREE HANDS A BOMBSHELL WITH THE PENCIL ON PAPER.
NOBODY EXPECTS A DIRECTOR OR MANAGER TO BE BEAUTIFUL OR KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ART,
WE KNOW MAKING GAMES IS A LOT ABOUT MANAGING THE RESOURCES, NOT BEING THIS TALENTED ARTIST.

 

[anne O'nymous]

I think it looks pretty good.

Because you want it to looks pretty good. But you are like a photograph who's blinded by the beauty of his wife he just shot, and don't see that the whole world is falling apart in the background.

What you find pretty good, it's the global feeling you have when you imagine her in front of you. But when you look at her, there's a lot of problems.
Haven't you took a look at her necklace ? How can he have such distant shadows ? Why is it entering her neck skin ?
And her collar bones, my god, why is she so skinny and uniquely there ? Or both her armpits, that are naked but still looks like she's wearing a shirt. There's also her mouth, she's Joker's daughter, except that for her it's natural, not some make-up. Or this thin shadow on the right of their neck, and her top, attached to nothing on her right side, while it is on the left.

It's not bad, but it's not good, even less pretty good. As Tompte said, when you look at it as a spectator and not as the author, it feel off even before you starts noticing the problems.

 

[Tompte]

Question is, should I?

I don't believe the ethical burden lies entirely on you. If you were to use AI, you would not be alone, to say the least. Lots of people don't care either way. I think the worst that could happen is there'll be some people, like myself, that will look at your game and go "yup, that's AI alright".

 

[Nobody Cares]

Maybe I should just use these as references.

 

[Tompte]

One of the artists I follow just posted this on twitter, in case anyone is still wondering why people are so up in arms about AI-generated art.

 

[GranTurboAutismo]

Art is the least of your problems
I can already see the regulations and overly authoritarian 'human verification' systems coming in the next few years. Hell we already got ready-to-go voice deep fakes. I can grab Nvidia's model, copy any person's voice and commit fraud or identity theft.

Buut...You can probably use the art generator as a tool to aid/speed up your workflow, for however long this lasts.

 

[Hagatagar]

One of the artists I follow just posted this on twitter, in case anyone is still wondering why people are so up in arms about AI-generated art.

The vibe of the image changed from "Get off me you crazy bitch!" to "Please don't hurt me mommy!"

 

[Nobody Cares]

Well,after much pondering I'd say it is not worth it. I guess I'll get on Photoshop and try to do this the old fashion way.
It will blow. It will blow harder than Elifael blows her futa sister in the next chapter of my story, but it will at least have a soul.

 

[Nobody Cares]

One of the artists I follow just posted this on twitter, in case anyone is still wondering why people are so up in arms about AI-generated art.

What the... how many arms does she have? Who is holding the gun? Where is his hand?

 

[MrBangarang]

I'm an impatient talent-less hack with a broad imagination and an itchy trigger finger so naturally I love AI. With a better understanding of how it works paired with patience and inpainting it's used for phenomenal pieces. Saying it's unethical to use is to me like saying you won't use your car because there are hard working delivery drivers out there trying to earn a living. Sure you could, but if you already own a car and the cost in comparable or better than the holdup is a matter of what you think you owe a driver, or is this case, an artist, that you dont think you'd appreciate yourself.

Hope that helps and good luck!

 

[Nobody Cares]

I'm an impatient talent-less hack with a broad imagination and an itchy trigger finger so naturally I love AI. With a better understanding of how it works paired with patience and inpainting it's used for phenomenal pieces. Saying it's unethical to use is to me like saying you won't use your car because there are hard working delivery drivers out there trying to earn a living. Sure you could, but if you already own a car and the cost in comparable or better than the holdup is a matter of what you think you owe a driver, or is this case, an artist, that you dont think you'd appreciate yourself.

Hope that helps and good luck!

Of course, I asked for personal opinions. I believe AIs in general will become tools for everyone. They are at an early stage, a bit like Napster back when file sharing was new.

 

[Sleepyguylol]

I'm someone who initially hated ai art but is slowly just being ok with it. Personally I think you should go for it. Obviously, it would be very nice if you did commission an artist but like you said that artist isnt available... and I think its a bit unfair to ask you to willingly handicap yourself when a good alternative is right there.

 

[Axyal]

Nice topic, cause actually, i was thinking to use few/somes generated background.
Not character.

To me, it should not really "bother", specially if it's some background, kinda blurry, not something i wish to focus on. But an usefull tool to give a bit of variation in places, outsides.

I gave try like "show me a dark manor, creepy, abandonned", and it gave me many pic, some very weirds, lol, but some ok, again, as a background.

I have "map", full 3d, that i'll use for "main event", but theses littles "picture generate" is ok, to me, but again, untill it's secondary, background.

I wont use it as a focus or main feature.
It sound a bit cheap or lazy, even if i must admit for the girl above, the art , to me, is awesome.

The IA is great, good, and that's cool, what it did. I can only drawn stickmen...

But we all know how AI work, specially for drawn some "paint" or character... As we saw in the second example..
It's litterally a copy past with visual effect and mistakes added.

I wont take the risk to use IA as a main feature for the art.

Even if, again, (i'm not picky so even if the necklace fail..) the art is awesome, i love it, i could not use theses, for respect for the one who made this drawn, the IA is "very inspired", you know, and because it looks cheap, lazy.

 

[Axyal]

I would add to simplify, if you IA "simulate" some human art, i wont do that.

If you IA render some photo, or kind of photo, to me it's fine, as background!

Wait i'm not saying photograph is not art, for sure we know theses people are magicians too, but it's another level. I think photo like most of common people that shoot cloud in sky and happy with it.
Just in case