This was originally in response to a comment on Threads.

I hear where you’re coming from, and I genuinely respect the concern, because nobody wants artists to be harmed or exploited. But I think some key details often get lost in this conversation, so let me offer another angle.

First, modern generative AI doesn’t store or reproduce original artworks. It doesn’t keep files, it doesn’t save images, and it doesn’t remix specific paintings like a collage. It learns patterns in the same way humans do: by observing broad concepts like color balance, shading, composition, genre conventions, and visual structures. That’s why AI can generate a “fantasy cleric in watercolor style” without copying any one person’s work. Calling that “plagiarism,” even morally gray, doesn’t quite map to how the technology actually functions.

I don’t attempt to copyright or even claim any of the art I use. It’s ChatGPT as the artist. If someone wants to steal it, please have at it. I wish you well. Take my various creatures and feel free to rename and re-stat them for Dungeons & Dragons 5E.2024 or whatever floats your boat. I claim the characters and the monster names, but the art? That’s technically open game for all intents and purposes.

Also, training on publicly available data isn’t new or unique to AI. Every artist, writer, musician, filmmaker, and creator alive learned by studying existing work without paying every person who influenced them, and without individually crediting everyone whose style they absorbed along the way. Humans don’t cite their inspirations down to the microstroke. We just learn, and then we create. AI’s learning process is modeled on that same principle.

Photo by TrickShot Fotos on Pexels.com

Art is subjective. Yes, sometimes AI can pop out something that looks like another piece, but that happens with humans all the time, too. If I really dig Salvador Dali or MC Escher for example, and I paint some surreal topsy turvy upside down stuff, it’s not plagiarism. It’s a bloody tribute! This happens all the time in Japanese Manga, Anime, and even music from what I hear. It’s actually considered a great honor.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t ethical issues to discuss with AI art. Absolutely there are. But the solution probably isn’t “label the entire field as plagiarism and call it a day.” It’s better transparency, better opt-in/opt-out systems, licensing frameworks, and fair ways for artists who want to participate to be compensated.

Nobody wants to see their hand drawn art show up verbatim with someone else’s name on it. Maybe that sort of thing happened a year or two ago, but the technology improves more every single day. Advancements are coming so fast we can barely keep up with them.

All four corners of the globe are adapting to AI in every field imaginable. Yet here we are in one tiny, almost unnoticeable in the grand scheme of things, cottage industry, (overrun by one massive corporation who has already said they’re using AI for not just art,) complaining and crying about AI art. Frankly, it’s getting ridiculous.

I’m not saying anyone should switch to generative AI art for their products. I fully 100% endorse the use of hand drawn human art if you can afford it. (Looking at you Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, etc.) But for the love of the Universe, please stop punching down on the people who are using AI tools to help them get going. At that point it just becomes industry gatekeeping, and we don’t need more of that. Gatekeeping has been part of this hobby for years and we don’t need more of it.

On the environmental side, AI training can be resource-heavy, but so are most modern digital technologies. Data centers for streaming video, cloud hosting, cryptocurrency, even social media suck power. The industry is actively pushing for greener infrastructure, more efficient training models, and hardware-level optimizations. And once a model is trained, using it consumes far less energy than most people think, certainly less than common tech we use daily without question.

So yes, these concerns are valid. But the simplified narrative that AI = theft + planetary doom doesn’t really hold up under scrutiny. The better conversation is how to build the technology responsibly, not how to roll back the clock on something that isn’t going away. We didn’t roll back to the 8 Track tape when CDs came out. AI is no different.

AI art may someday hit a point where it replaces humans for the most part. But much like the fully automated McDonald’s, there is always going to need to be a human around to supervise the process. Take the featured image for this article for example. It went through five different iterations before ChatGPT finally coughed up the one I used for the final creature. (Full stats, etc coming Thursday.) I dare say most human artists would still be on the second draft at the point at which it will be published.

ChatGPT doesn’t stop working at 3:00AM. It doesn’t take holidays off. It has no family to worry about. It just does the job I need done when I ask it. And I can be as demanding and fussy as I want with almost no backlash.

Maybe it’s not perfect, but there’s no sense hating on it. If you don’t like it, much like we said in the 80s and 90s, don’t consume it. Don’t support companies who use AI artwork. Sure, tell your friends not to use it. All I’m trying to say is, “Don’t tread on me for doing what I need to do to grow my business.” If you don’t like a piece of art, stop staring at it.

See, I get wicked jealous of people who get to go to the big conventions, do all the networking stuff, appear on panels, take selfies with the major DungeonTubers, and put their name out their on the market. I would dearly love that kind of connection. Hell, I would dearly love to spend a weekend running games at a convention again. Yeah, hobnobbing is fun and all, but I’d rather hang with people who share my love for the game. I’d love to do all that stuff and have a job offer or something come out of it.

I’m kinda stuck here in Iowa, shackled to a rock in the middle of a corn field somewhere. Since I don’t have the travel/convention advantage, I have to get my writing out there somehow. I know I’m going to need more than some silly stock art. Why not take advantage of the resources I have available to me?

How is what I’m doing any better or worse than say, a DungeonTuber who hasn’t made a video in over a year appearing at conventions on panels for how-to YouTube? Should I have to hold back on my writing because I don’t have art? Who’s got the bigger case of imposter syndrome? At least I’m honest when I say the art isn’t mine.

The same thing goes for DriveThruRPG. Sure, I’d love to drop a Mithral best seller. But building a business, any business takes time and effort. AI art saves me some of that time and effort. I’d rather get the writing out there, but art sells product. Even a few simple illustrations go a long way sometimes.

Here’s the kicker: I don’t sell my product for big bucks. I haven’t made it to the $100 mark in sales yet. I’m also not dropping three or four products per day on DTRPG, either. There’s a difference between using some AI art in a project and pumping out massive amounts of under-edited AI slop. I spend a ton of time in editing and layout and then do an art-free version for printing purposes. I’m not trying to hose anybody.

I’m not claiming any of the art I use is my own. (Except the Shadowdark character sheet. That one was all me.) My stuff always includes claiming the artist as ChatGPT or in very rare cases whomever I used from Pexels.com. Honest disclosure goes a long way with these debates. Someday when I have a three million dollar Kickstarter, I’ll hire all kinds of people to make the product shine, especially artists.

We need to start normalizing the use of AI in TTRPGs. The day is coming when we won’t be able to tell the difference between 100% generative AI art and art that started as AI and was retouched by a human or created by said human and cleaned up with AI. We didn’t completely stop using digital media because someone cleaned up a picture in Photoshop.

TTRPGs need to move into 2025 and beyond with a new attitude, one of tolerance or even acceptance of AI. It’s not the enemy people try to make it out to be. While I’m sure social media will still be freaking out about it for years to come, AI is here to stay in every office from the government all the way down to the lowliest person on the street with a smartphone. TTRPGs are still a cottage industry with people trying to turn a buck while making a small product from the peace and quiet of their own basement.

Let’s go back to talking about games after this. I honestly, lovingly, do not care where you got the art for your product as long as the content itself is something I was looking for. AI word salad trash is still trash. Well edited writing with some pleasant art is bliss.

Thank you for being here with me today. I appreciate you. Keep it real, but please strive for positivity, too. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy in your life.