Wizards of the Coast is facing a shitstorm unleashed by enraged D&D fans. The reason is AI-generated imagery in a book.
Dungeons & Dragons has long had a complex relationship with its fans. On the one hand, the pen&paper game is immensely popular, in recent years gaining massive popularity through projects like Critical Role, but also the Netflix hit Stranger Things – and right now Baldur’s Gate 3 is shattering all ceilings.
But on the other hand, D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast regularly triggers heated debates in the community. This time with AI-generated images discovered by attentive readers and which would have ended up undeclared in a book.
What exactly happened?
It’s about a new rulebook for D&D with the title Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, cost 50 Euro. Among other things, it contains a new subclass for the barbarian – something that should please fans. However, it’s not the content that’s the problem, but the illustrations in the book. Because they were created with the help of AI – which was not marked anywhere.
The artist Ilya Shkipin admitted that he used AI programs for help, but allegedly only for rough sketching. However, many fans believe that the images are almost entirely generated and minimally edited. Typical AI errors can be found in the finished illustrations:
Is Wizards using AI art in official sourcebooks?
These images from Bigby’s Presents are seriously concerning. At the best, it’s terrible quality, at the worst, it means a lot of artists are going to lose jobs. DnD dnd5e pic.twitter.com/LIgBVUNzN4
– GmBen (@NevernotDM) August 4, 2023
What’s the problem with AI images? AI-generated art is highly controversial. On the one hand, because many questions around copyrights are open (since many AI programs use existing artworks for their algorithms), and on the other hand, because many fear that human artists will soon no longer get paid for their painstakingly learned work, since AI art is cheaper and faster to create.
Therefore, many of the D&D fans demand that AI-generated art either not be used at all, or at least be clearly marked.
This is what Wizards of the Coast
says.
The publisher has already responded on Twitter and is trying to do damage control in light of the shitstorm. In the statement, it says that they also only learned after the fact that the illustrations are AI-generated. The guidelines will now be adjusted and it will be made clear that no AI programs may be used in illustrations for D&D Not even as an auxiliary tool.
On AI-generated art and Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants: pic.twitter.com/q6oXRRITk9
– D&D Beyond (@DnDBeyond) August 5, 2023
In addition, the illustrations for Glory of the Giants are to be revised. However, the book will already be released on August 15, so there should already be a print run – possibly the revision will only affect the digital version.
What’s your take on AI-generated art? Do you care if human artists are behind a project as long as it looks cool? Do you notice the little mistakes and inconsistencies in AI images right away, or do you have trouble telling the difference? And would you like to see clear labeling?
