Chaosium Joins Kobold Press and Others in Taking a Stand Against AI
As Artificial Intelligence looms over D&D’s future, other tabletop RPG publishers are taking a stand—coming down firmly against AI.
Two weeks later and AI still casts a looming pallor over the RPG industry. Back in the first half of the month, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks spoke about how AI was “something you’re going to see more of” to a call full of investors at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia + Technology event. And though the webcast has past, you can still get all the highlights right here, notably that AI is already in the works:
“The themes around using AI to enable user-generated content, using AI to streamline new player introduction, using AI for emergent storytelling, I think you’re going to see that with not just like our hardcore brands like D&D but also multiple of our brands.”
Now, in light of all that, many other RPG Publishers have come forward, once again, taking a firm stance against generative AI and other trappings. Over the weekend, Chaosium reiterated its stance, and before that, Kobold Press issued the “No AI Pledge”. Here’s the latest.
With AI Looming, Chaosium Says “NO AI”
Yesterday, Chaosium shared once again the company’s stance on AI, this time, in an excerpt from its Frequently Asked Questions:
“Our creator contracts require work submitted to be the creator’s original work and ‘not contain any AI generated art or text’.
There’s literally been hundreds of talented artists contributing to our company’s success since 1975. We’re concerned about AI Art’s impact on their livelihoods, and their ability to maintain control of their own work. Plus all the tenebrous ethical and legal issues AI Art conjures. So we’ve updated our art contract templates to include the provision that AI art programs are not to be used: the work needs to be the product of a human artist who can vouch that they created the piece and that it does NOT contain unlicensed derivative use of someone else’s work. See our full statement (originally posted 16 December 2022).
– Chaosium
But what makes this worth noting is Chaosium joining with Kobold Press and a few other publishers. These are some of the biggest names (that aren’t owned by a billion dollar toy conglomerate) in tabletop RPGs—where they go, so too does a big part of the industry. Well, relatively big, the scale is pretty handily tipped in D&D’s favor, but you get the idea.
As for “why now” it feels like this is an ounce of prevention that will be worth a pound of cure later. Put another way, I don’t know how easily the AI genie will be to stuff back in its bottle. Especially when just getting it out of the bottle takes all sorts of methane-powered generators despite trying to seem cool and futuristic and ethereal.
And if you’re a consumer whose decisions are influenced by the choices a company makes, for or against AI, it feels like now is the time to make your support known.
More on the story as it develops!
