Why Artificial Intelligence Needs to be Discussed
There’s a lot of talk about artificial intelligence (AI) these days. This is true of your typical person, but is a much bigger topic among creative types (e.g., publishers, writers, artists.) Why is this so?
It’s simple: artificial intelligence seems like a big time saver and simplifier to Joe and Jane Average because it makes it easy for unskilled people to create an output as though they had those skills. So, what happens to the people who make a living from those skills? Writers and artists are loosing work to artificial intelligence platforms, plain and simple. The problem is bigger than that, though.
How Artificial Intelligence Kills Jobs While Killing Quality and Options
Not only does artificial intelligence take work away from people, but what it provides is lacking and often defective (Google “artificial intelligence six fingers” to see what I mean.) Artificial intelligence doesn’t create its output in a vacuum. Unlike a living artist or author who draws from inspiration or creates something original, artificial intelligence can only ever build on what’s provided for it as a source. It cannot come up with unique ideas of its own. It cannot feel true inspiration and move in a new direction. Instead, it is limited to piecemeal replication and copying. Without source material to emulate and draw from, it simply doesn’t work.
Because of this limitation, using artificial intelligence to output written or artistic content is always limited. For example, as a publisher, I can work with an artist through a back-and-forth process to get the exact outcome I am hoping for. With artificial intelligence, I can keep feeding it prompts to adjust it’s output and make changes. However, I’m ultimately going to have to make do with what comes closest to what I want. Because artificial intelligence can’t create anything original, it can’t respond to my desires as would a living artist. It is limited to coming as close as its source material will allow it.
This means that artificial intelligence reaches a point where it either becomes detrimentally incestuous (it must draw on other artificial intelligence output as its sources) or more source material must be provided by humans. This is the clone of a clone of a clone of a clone degradation problem common to science fiction. Ultimately, artificial intelligence is a dead end without constant human input feeding it. This is the same human input artificial intelligence is putting out of work.
The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
As mentioned, artificial intelligence currently requires human source material to create it’s output. The issues I already mentioned aside, there’s nothing else wrong because all those original human sources agree to have their work used in this way, right?
Wrong.
So far, most artificial intelligence platforms function by drawing from user-provided data (e.g., Adobe AI Photoshop components), public data (e.g., content anyone can use under limited conditions or unconditionally), or by “scraping.” Scraping is the least ethical (and most common) process. It involves “scraping” online sources and other content archives for information and content that can be publicly accessed but is still protected by copyright, and thus permission isn’t granted indirectly as a default.
Ultimately, using thousands of writers’ and artists’ work without their permission (and, indeed, in most cases, against their wishes) to create an output that takes work away from those same people is unethical. Artificial intelligence means forcing people to train their replacement without their permission (or awareness.)
Misfit Studios’ Brush with Artificial Intelligence
When artificial intelligence platforms first hit the Internet, one of the artists Misfit Studios sells stock art on behalf of wanted to experiment with it. When they told us this, a lot of the details about the artificial intelligence process still weren’t know. However, the artist was warned that copyright issues over AI output wasn’t settled. It was also pointed out that customers may react negatively. The artist still wanted to try some experiments involving artificial intelligence generating output they would then modify to suit their needs.
We then put the art up for sale.
Only one of these pieces sold before more information came out about the artificial intelligence art generation process. Although we couldn’t say for sure if it was a factor, their other art sales had also declined in this time. At that point, the artist was contacted and we talked about it again. They decided it was best to take down the art.
Misfit Studios’ Artificial Intelligence Policy
Given what is now known about artificial intelligence generated content, Misfit Studios takes a strong stance against its use in our products. Misfit Studios will not knowingly use or sell any content generated by artificial intelligence platforms whenever we have a say in the matter. Misfit Studios may find itself in a position where this is unavoidable because storefronts, software, etc. incorporate artificial intelligence in a way beyond our control. We’ll do our best to opt out of such scenarios whenever possible. This holds until (if?) such a process is entirely ethical and solves its other problems, such as taking away jobs.
Steven Trustrum
Steven Trustrum has been writing in the RPG industry since the end of the '90s and publishing via Misfit Studios since 2003. Aside from writing and publishing role-playing game content, he ... dabbles ... in content and social media marketing.