Kickstarter's new policy on AI

So Kickstarter just sent out a link to their new policy on projects that use AI going forward (well, after 8/29). I decided to actually click the link and read it, here: updates.kickstarter.com/introducing-our-new-ai-policy/

So, after the absolute dumpster fire that was their policy on Blockchain, I was actually pleasantly surprised. The very brief tl;dr:

• Creators must document the use of AI in their projects, distinguishing between what is human created and what is planned to be done by AI
• What AI tools are being used must also be specified, including attributions for the training datasets used
• If said AI tools can't properly attribute that training data and show they have the rights to use it, Kickstarter may not allow the project to go forward (curious how well this will be enforced)
• If a creator attempts to circumvent these rules (and let's face it, you're probably going to get caught by the anti-AI brigade), the projects will be suspended and all the usual threats about being banned from the platform

This was a surprisingly thoughtful interpretation. While I'm personally ambivalent towards AI-created assets, I understand the moral murkiness of it all. I think transparency is really the most important bit, I applaud that policy.

But I'll bet Elzra is pretty happy right now they chose Gamefound over Kickstarter for Phantom Division...

Even shorter summary -- "we're not liable."

Definitely, I think everyone without a huge corporate bank account is waiting for the huge lawsuits to shake out that will dictate if AI products are fair use or not.

What if the project creators themselves are an AI? I swear, some of the projects on there...

That's really interesting. I'm glad KS has published an official policy, and it will be fascinating to see how aggressively they decide to enforce it.

I recently backed a campaign for a bunch of D&D maps. The creator gave no indication that the images were AI-generated. When the image files got delivered, it suddenly became VERY clear that they were AI-generated as they had all sorts of weird artifacts. Like, in a picture of what was ostensibly supposed to be a medieval-era blacksmith shop, there was what appeared to be a ... city bus?!?! ... parked out front. The comments blew up, and the creator got ripped to pieces for not disclosing that the art was all AI-generated.

It's still early days, and the ethics of all this are still pretty murky. At this point, greater visibility feels like a reasonable goal.