A bit of news (28.01.2024) - Regarding AI use

Alright, so, having read the comments, I have come to the following resolutions, for the time being.

1. the images are doubtlessy popular

2. Some people prefer not to look at artwork, as they prefer to let their mind do the work

3. Other people really want the artwork, because they have varying levels of afantasia (which is far more common than people seem to think)

Now, since the rest of the Raid is already written, I can tell you that, at least for this one, the AI pictures will be displayed as they were in the first chapter I used them on. Going forwards, however, I think I can adjust things a bit to make things work out for all parties involved.

Simply put: in the future, I just won't put the image in the chapter. I'll put the imgur link there and you can click on it if you feel like it. If I'm not forgetful, I'll mark those links one way or another so everyone's aware of why that one isn't displaying. Optimally, I would just put them in a Spoiler thingy, where you have to click to display in window, but neither Patreon, nor Substar, nor CHYOA have that option.

To alleviate a few related concerns:

1. I will be using AI primarily for things that I could never, ever justify a commission for, Raid enemies being a specifically good example because they do not exist past these encounters.

2. Where I will be using AI as character pictures, it will only be for stories that I would never do commissions for anyway (Hexagons for Master being the primary example) or as purely temporary stand-ins (e.g. the current Tokens for Ehtra and Delicia).  Any waifus is guaranteed to get a proper artwork in due time and anything else with reasonable screentime or relevance should get a commissioned image eventually (for example, I want to get a commissioned image for Arkeidos, even if I could reasonably make one with AI)

3. Any AI character pictures that I make I will only ever post on Discord for reference purposes. I won't post it here for downloads or try to exclaim it as official art. As aforementioned, it is temporary at worst and a joke in most cases (I have made a few chibi Scarletts :P)

To quickly summarize my stance on AI usage: I view the programs as the artistic medium equivalent of power tools. They put a lot of carpenters out of business because everyone could now easily drill holes and such, but it was ultimately a net good to society. At the same time, I do recognize that there are a few genuine concerns here that do not map onto the power tool metaphor.

The most reasonable counter argument to AI is the way it is trained at the moment, with various hosting sites just deciding what is uploaded to them is fair game or just getting scanned anyhow. I believe copyright discussion around this will take decades to sort out.

As it is, the genie won't go back into the bottle and even if part of the foundation of the technology was immorally acquired, it is useful. It is specifically most useful for people that did not previously have the means to finance even low-quality artwork for their work.

I, obviously, do have those means and I do not plan to stop working with any of my current set of three artists (Monori, Kriniere, and Somiko), nor do I plan to stop with other artists for other projects (such as Claparo who did the Book 2 Welldark Cover). The economy being what it is, I had to backscale a lot of what I wanted to get drawn, but I do not plan to stop completely.

Ethically, I think its just wrong to suddenly cut off artists from their revenue source without an acclimation period (they will have to adjust at some point, but we can give them a decade or two).

Personally, I just enjoy working with those three.

Practically, the AI has 2 glaring flaws. One is that it devolves into non-sensical pixels if it self-references too much and two is that it never actually gives you what you want. It just gives your approximations based on input. The AI lacks the creative process, which is also why I generally try not to call it "AI art" but "AI pictures".

TLDR: Imma put future character images, AI or not, in chapters behind some kind of barrier so those that prefer to not have their imagination influenced can opt out. AI pictures will be limited to pieces that are economically unfeasible to be commissioned.

Hope that makes sense to everyone,

Funatic.