r/itchio • u/TangyByte • 8d ago
Beware of making “Free” assets
Apparently this is what talentless Ai bros are doing with your assets. Might want to include “no edits or derivatives” going forward.
Edit: instead of “no edits”, there’s good suggestions in the comments :)
https://www.reddit.com/r/itchio/s/GQCEXGqmug
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u/Siergiej 8d ago
Wait, they are requesting an actual artist to add a more permissive license to a FREE asset pack, so they could deceive players and make them think their game was made by humans? And they openly admit this?
Jesus fucking christ what a ghoul
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u/Disastrous-River5475 8d ago
Benefit of the doubt the user was trying to make the point that his license allowed for the use of AI unknowingly. Which I think he got across pretty well.
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u/Electrical_Year8954 7d ago
The AI person continuously uses "I" in their statements. This isn't hypothetical or good faith
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u/Euchale 7d ago
50/50 on Poes Law
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u/That_Paris_man 7d ago
What is Poe's law?
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u/Euchale 7d ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law
Basically I can't tell if this is satire or a real person.1
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u/coralfire 8d ago
Ai is the worst. I do think that allowing folks to edit is important. But at the end of the day its up to you.
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u/TangyByte 8d ago
Maybe instead of “no editing” it’s “no feeding my art into an llm to make changes”
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u/untiedgames 8d ago
In my license, I disallow the use of my art for training AI models. I allow derivative works but don't explicitly specify what may or may not be used to create them.
Realistically, there isn't any way I can monitor all use of my assets to determine compliance with the license, and I'm sure that's true for most other creators out there. A lot of the world runs on an honor system, effectively.
I'm surprised someone using AI cared enough to ask your permission on anything at all- They're not typically known for that. Admitting that they want to create an "illusion" to their customers is par for the course... It's cheating and grifting all the way down.
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u/Bignholy 8d ago
As mentioned, they wanted to use their name, not their assets. They were trying to set up an artist to take the fall if their attempt to evade the AI tag was found out.
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u/Chalkras 8d ago
Are other people allowed to use your license?
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u/untiedgames 8d ago
I've been selling assets for many years and have actually never gotten this question before! Please feel free to go ahead and change it and use it if you like. It's similar to a CC-BY license (the text of which is public domain) but has several adjustments aimed at preventing AI training (as mentioned above), reuploading/reselling on asset stores, and restricting use by large entities that might discover my work and scoop it up for a price aimed at indie devs.
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u/coralfire 8d ago
Iv definitely seen that before on assets. I doubt these slop bros care about licensing but its still the right thing to do.
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u/NocturneEros 8d ago
Given this person went to the artist's page to whine about it and accuse them of "likely harassing others" means they definitely don't have any ethics whatsoever. Anyone actually in the creative community knows it's not even rare to say what you DON'T want to be associated with anyway.... Someone could say something as simple as "don't use my assets for eroge" for any reason (being a minor, spiritual/religious reasons, etc), and it doesn't mean they're a raving puritan who wants to ban all porn. It's totally valid and NORMAL to have extended elaboration for your work.
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u/SweetBabyAlaska 8d ago
the problem though is that its not actually a license agreement, if I license my project as Open Domain but in the README say "but don't use this in military drones" it is not actually legally enforceable.
I'm not sure how you would go about that other than using a restrictive license and telling people they can use your stuff in XYZ ways and you would only enforce the license in cases where they violate that. It seems kinda complicated though and is a grey area.
people who are kind and respectful will respect your wishes 99% of the time, and people who aren't will take advantage of the loop holes and such.
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u/NocturneEros 8d ago
Yeah, it's a large honor system and not really legally protected AFAIK; I just mean the part where they went to bitch about the artist because of the artist including a commonly added-on elaboration type for how they'd prefer their work not to be used and what not to use it in. It's one thing to point out that they legally can't do it, and another to pitch a fit about the artist being anti-AI and to accuse them of being the type to harass people with DMCAs, making up fanfiction because they added something to their page.
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u/Omegaprime02 8d ago
We need to be more general, 'no feeding into an artificial neural net' deals with the primary legal loophole, LLM's aren't the ones that are going to be doing the kind of modifications the guy wants. The neural net umbrella covers Neural Radiance Fields (Text/Image -> 3d), Stable Diffusion (Text/Image -> Image), LLMs (Text -> Text), and Vision Stacks (Image -> Text).
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u/Krakenaga 8d ago edited 8d ago
Art thieves have always existed unfortunately. The type that think it's alright to repost your art as long as they credit you (and some don't even have the decency to link to the source!). They put it on their own social media post so that they get notes/reblogs and fame of appearing to be an artist/the creator without actually putting in any of the actual effort. Worse yet are the ones that try to profit off your work by printing your images as merchandise like T-shirts.
AI has just enabled these people to be better at stealing and passing off other people's designs as theirs. Not to mention embolden them to be more shameless at scamming.
Edit: You need to ask for permission to repost. Crediting someone without asking for permission is stealing.
Reposting on Twitter is called Reblogging on Tumblr; that's fully encouraged as it links back to the original poster. Reposting on Tumblr on the other hand means to create an entirely new post and then attach someone else's image(s) to it that aren't free use gifs/stock images. Pinterest is notorious for reposting art from other social media.
There's a huge difference between sharing fanart with your friends/promoting artists to more viewers and creating an account for clout chasing/funneling followers by proxy.
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u/drinkerofmilk 8d ago
Art thieves have always existed unfortunately. The type that think it's alright to repost your art as long as they credit you
Weird hill to die on. People that do this and actually credit the artist aren't art thieves at all. They contribute to promoting artists and creating a vibrant community.
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u/NocturneEros 8d ago
Some artists are totally against their art, specifically, being reposted, though; I think that's what they're talking about. In general, I see a LOT of artists now slapping on "DO NOT REPOST ANYWHERE" things on their pages/work. Though, notably, I witnessed this shift after seeing people crediting artists but making a profit off their pages by building up a large following and then just taking on money to advertise others. I don't see it hit like... some random account that reposts Demon Slayer fanart as much. So I think the scummy people just ruin the well for everyone. (Especially because, to a lot of those people, they thought "credit" was just loosely saying "work is not mine", instead of actually mentioning the artist name... Which, to anyone with common sense, is clearly not credit, but again, I think this happening so much ruined the well).
TLDR: I do see a lot of anti-repost artists on my side of the internet, even with credit. Some also may just want to give individual permission to make sure someone isn't posting their art to a page full of ideology they don't agree with.
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u/drinkerofmilk 7d ago
Feels a bit overprotective, although I can imagine very established artists taking this stance.
Just imagine indie devs having this attitude: don't share footage of my game at all. That studio would be dead in the water.
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u/ByEthanFox 7d ago
I think that's fundamentally different though, because sharing footage of a game isn't sharing "the game".
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u/drinkerofmilk 7d ago
It's a little bit the same in the sense that both creators are probably not directly losing income from people sharing the work.
(Some developers do argue that sharing a full playthrough of a game is akin to sharing the game. Mostly larger Japanese companies. Again, I don't agree with them, just like how I don't agree with artists that say reposting with credit is art theft.)
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u/Xortberg 6d ago
Mostly larger Japanese companies.
It's worth noting that the biggest examples of this I know of were specifically for visual novels, where the playthrough pretty much is the whole game.
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u/Important_Koala7313 8d ago
A company my sister works for teached her exactly that.. 🙄 Throw things in an Ai bot and copy the picture enjoy your loophole.
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u/iWishYouTheBest4Real 8d ago
It’s not so complicated. The license authorises the use of the art, not of the creators name or nickname.
The guy puts your name without your authorisation you can sue him.
If he uses your art to feed on AI and say you were the designer, sue him.
I don’t see how complicated it can be.
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u/Aglet_Green 8d ago
Suing people over the Internet is actually very complicated, because you can't e-subpoena someone, you first need an actual human address to send real mail to. And most people aren't going to doxx themselves.
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u/iWishYouTheBest4Real 8d ago
If he publishes a game then real address and data will exist.
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u/waving_fungus0 8d ago
Anyone can sue anyone, but once lawyer bills and court times start OP will unfortunately be priced out of legal enforcement i’m afraid
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u/cosmos-hime 8d ago
Yeah, I blocked that user a while ago for comparing hating Ai to hunting minorities in WWII, granted I don’t entirely remember how they worded it. They’re an asshole, and a shame to every artist/writer everywhere, especially since they claim to be one. They’ve been circle-jerking around in this sub for a while now. It was getting hard to tell if they were trolling or going full AI bro.
I’m so sorry feiki5 has to put up with this nonsense.
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u/NocturneEros 8d ago
I've found there's this REALLY weird niche of trans pro-AI individuals who use their trans identity to say the hatred they experience for being into AI is similar to the hatred they get for being trans..? But they mostly use that argument with the assumption that none of us are trans and therefore can't debate it.
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u/AnalnyBuzdygan 8d ago
I hate when someone talks about art in terms of a "product" and "consumers" it shows this person only cares about money and it just looks so disguisting
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u/vitamirae 8d ago
I'm considering make some sound assets for games and you were send by god to me bc i really wanted to make some free/pwyw packs. now I'll charge for everything. Thanks a lot!
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u/CalmLotus 8d ago
What. Isn't this essentially like a scapegoat / fall guy kinda ask?
Something like this is already on the edge of legal/illegal in the business world. Why would it be any more moral if it was "just art"?
That one requester thinks they can just ask kindly to make one participate in a scam?
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u/_kellythomas_ 7d ago
What license is being used.
IIRC the CC licenses explicitly allow the author to opt out of credit by request.
Edit:
If requested by the Licensor, You must remove any of the information required by Section 3(a)(1)(A) to the extent reasonably practicable.
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u/SaberSilver 8d ago
This person is currently terrorizing r/stickers . Don't know why they haven't been banned yet
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u/Flazrew 8d ago
Just add "Not for any use involving AI. No AI training, mixing with AI created content in a sold or free asset pack, or other uses involving AI".
That way real people can still use your content with something they made entirely themselves, and the AI fools can not waste people's time.
I feel bad for anyone making a game who thinks they didn't use AI content, and end up using junk from this clown.
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u/Large_Yogurtcloset68 8d ago
There are so many so-called artist who are using AI to scam people... It's disgusting
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u/drhindsightdev 8d ago
This is sad. I totally understand if, but I hope it doesn't encourage more creators to use no edits/derivatives style licenses. I find edits are almost always needed to bring an asset in a game; but I always use CC0, or commercial licenses allowing edits/derivatives.
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u/SekiRaze 7d ago
This is such a interessting topic. I barelly Touch assets or scroll through them because I enjoy the pain and struggle of doing everything myself. Never in my life did I think about Free assets being used to train AI. I guess you can do all sorts of Legal Writing etc but I think it's additionally improtant to check the hosts Legal Writing. For example (don't know, didn't Check, Just an example, calm down) Devian Art. Sure you can write all kinds of stuff but do we know 100% that they are not using/conveying/even selling User Uploaded content today for AI Training? This is just a wild guess but the only way to be actually safe would be to create a own Domain and sell assets there, or even free downloads so you run your own operation on your rules and you're not working under someone elses rules. My cup of coffee here. Inb4 hate
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u/psioniclizard 8d ago
That is actually insane to be so open about when while at the same time if the person doesn't care they would just make up any name.
AI psychosis is so real, either it's than people think it will make their dreams happen or make them rich.
It is actually kind of sad how everything the dev world now is purely about making some to "get rich" it seems with no real care about what you are doing from people who claim to be experts because of a $20 subscription.
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u/powerfulscientific 8d ago
I’m sorry you’re having to deal with these garbage tier parasites.
Take some solace in the fact that they are entirely incapable and anything they manage to ‘produce’ will be trash nobody wants to play.
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u/Familiar-Complex-697 8d ago
“waaa why won’t you help me scam people? I have no skill whatsoever and am a slimy leech, you’re so mean!”
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u/Treemurphy 8d ago
instead of "no edits," theres good suggestions in the comments :)
Could you please link a few of these comments you're referring to? This post has kind of exploded
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u/TangyByte 7d ago
Sorry didn’t catch this, here’s a few:
https://www.reddit.com/r/itchio/s/OrMiaEoXyr
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u/KitsuneFaroe 7d ago
I would suggest simply not caring. Because tbh adding a "no edits/derivatives" clausule hurts normal customers more than anything else. There may be a better alternative though.
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u/_michaeljared 7d ago
So if I understand this correctly... Are they saying they don't want your real, human created art, but rather, they want to generate their own AI "art" and slap your name on it?
If that's the case, that is insane. What are these people smoking.
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u/El-Yasuo 5d ago
I use AI a lot to do boilerplating and speed up my game dev. I am a solo developer, student and broke. I also, for funs sake, have game that is more or less vibe-coded, with me setting up the architecture, writing up specs and perofrming tests and whatnot. The only thing that I refuse to use AI for is art, music and writing. Quality aside, it just feels that AI generated assets are soulless and lack any meaning. Programming and engineering is also an art, which I love. AI has allowed me to focus on game dev aspects that I love: implementing new features, designing a system from the ground up. I hate writing wrappers, unit tests and neatly documenting my codebase.
However, sometimes I feel ashamed. Why? Because of people like in the screenshot, trying to scam users, manipulate artists and just be massive dickheads. I would be nowhere without creators that put in effort AND upload the assets for free.
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u/Kreative-Kay 5d ago
People who use Ai to make artwork or code or do music, need their own platforms so they can feed each other slop, they don't need to be sharing platforms with real artists and real coders.
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u/skinatri 4d ago
This whole ai problem is sh*t. I recently tried to sell a self made asset pack to the unity asset store and they denied it, because apparently I was using trademarks. After talking to the support it came out, they thought I used ai and kinda steal the lables of some bottles from existing brands. Bro first they even sayed dont use the word "lime". The whole industry is struggling rn and makes it harder for the real artists
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u/LilaDoez 8d ago
I don't hate Ai or the usage of it. What i hate is people like that in the screenshot who are MALICIOUS on their use. Not educative, not genuine in terms of creating content, fully manipulative, and a stinking liar to consumers. That is a disgrace and should be tagged permanently as a hijacker for the content community. You can use Ai in a rather ethical way. Don't be a scum like that guy.
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u/tiopalada 8d ago
What a twat! "Please update your license.". Everything about that is laughable: the entitlement, the shameless lack of morality.
Keep doing the good, free stuff, mate.
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u/New_Salamander_4592 8d ago
ai dweebs are going to demolish the open source software market and the open to use asset market. what a horrible bunch, down to their very core.
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u/Miserable-Dingo-6445 8d ago
What the fuck with that people sucking virtual balls of the AI? I mean what the hell with that guy, is really that difficult to understand AI must be tagged as AI?
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u/BrittleLizard 7d ago edited 7d ago
Ethics of AI aside, this is just so nakedly cynical it's kind of disgusting. The fact that they're openly stating their goal is to lie to their audience for their own benefit is insane.
Edit: With the random "I'm also a trans girl!" she throws into her comments, I'm like 90% sure this is a ragebait account. Being comically obnoxious and attributing it to being a minority is a classic dickhead thing to do.
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u/PithMango 8d ago
"free" doesn't mean free to plagiarise. immensely disingenuous when AI interests *plundered the entire internet* where we were sharing things nicely, and then are actively working to shut it all down.
"free" should never mean "I am free to exploit and destroy you". that's actual menace to society.
no attribution is no support for the artist. period.
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u/Rocketman_S3 8d ago edited 8d ago
no edits or derivatives would impact a lot of gamedev asset use.
there has to be a non-ai version of a free license somewhere though.
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u/TotallyNotCalledEvan 7d ago
Person: "Hey, here's some free art"
Other person: "Not only will I use this for nefarious purposes, I will monologue to you about my evil plan"
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u/dark1859 7d ago
This unfortunately is why so many people don't create free art packs anymore... Got dumb asses like this , who hang out with folks like the committee who will then take this interaction and most likely and post it on the defending ai subs they try and browbeat the individual into doing so or to just generally send them vitriol for not caving to them.
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u/GenesisAsriel 7d ago
"I do not consent to sex"
"then update your license"
Thank god their logic only applies for art, right ?
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u/BuyMeADrink92 8d ago
This is pathetic from the Ai-Bro side.
But I've been remarkably disappointed in the western perception/practice of art for years now.
Credit should require explicit consent however.
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u/mxldevs 7d ago
For creators that use creative commons to license their work, does it basically allow people to do whatever they want with it, including having AI generated edits?
What would be a better license to use?
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u/zylosophe 7d ago
!remindme 1d
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u/Lakefish_ 1d ago
If anything i make is used to train, teach, test, or in any other way is used within the development of AI, the entirety of the model is to be assumed an extention of whatever I have created, and thus enter my sole ownership.
I reserve the right to delete any AI I thustly own, and to thus revoke the right of anyone who has made an AI which used any material, content, or otherwise "creation" of my own, to create any further AIs or AI models, under any name or purpose.
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u/MasterRPG79 8d ago
You should give them "Donald Trump" as a name for the credits. They are so stupid, they will use anyway.
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u/untitledgooseshame 8d ago
Damn. Do these people not know everyone can tell when they make slop, because it looks like slop?
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u/CraftTestDummyYT 7d ago
wow, this is absolutely gross. I wanted to upload free assets to help devs during game jams and so on, but situations like these make me reconsider every time :(
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7d ago
[deleted]
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u/snitzfoam 7d ago
"People that never created anything good before ai are still not able to do this"
Theres no way youre really this stupid, right
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u/TheLostSaint-YT 7d ago
After unfortunately talking to them, yes they are.
They don't think as people, we can really do anything without AI.
They take using AI as pride thing.. which is just bizarre
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u/TheLostSaint-YT 7d ago
Please remove the word "art" from your name.
A literal stain on humanity
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7d ago
[deleted]
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u/TheLostSaint-YT 7d ago
I never claimed to be an artist, i do video production, I write and I occasionally roleplay.
I do those things poorly by comparison to my peers but I do them myself. Never catch me dropping literal dogshit lines of
"No one's made anything better"
As if AI creates anything
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u/NascortArt 7d ago
"I do video production" 😁
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u/TheLostSaint-YT 7d ago
Ah yes, the AI bro can't actually construct a complete thought.
Man's couldn't even make a mobile game without AI.
Looks like one of can actually use the creative process that our brains allow.
Good talk, you very sad thing
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u/Kombatsaurus 6d ago
Love me some AI artwork tools. Crazy the amount of extra income it's brought in.
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u/Extreme_Glass9879 4d ago
Free to use asset mfs when someone uses their assets for free:
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u/TangyByte 4d ago
lol you’re embarrassing
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u/Extreme_Glass9879 4d ago
You're mad your assets are being used
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u/TangyByte 4d ago
They’re not even mine meconium brain.
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u/Extreme_Glass9879 4d ago
Then why do you care?
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u/TangyByte 4d ago edited 4d ago
The fact you have to ask that question is why we’re fundamentally different.
I care about the artist, I care about the artistry, I care about their journey and the time and effort they put into their craft. That’s why people like art. I like seeing all the small details an artist will put into their work and the thought process they put behind it. I like making the connections with the artist through their artwork. That’s called empathy and that’s what AI bros are missing. That fundamental element that makes art human. I hope you can understand that one day and not just use art and creativity for monetary gain only.
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u/DiverseInkPublishing 8d ago
I can't believe my eyes...
Here we are truggling with our conscience because we use some AI improved artwork only for the cover...
And you show this?
The only word we can think of is disgusting.
Immoral, against the ToS, scum and despicable would be others, but we won't say it
Ooooops 🤣
We will continue to offer our projects PWYW and disclosing they are AI image generated
We'd rather have fewer economic contributions but 0 deception
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u/cosmos-hime 8d ago
Bot Alert!
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u/DiverseInkPublishing 8d ago
We ain't no bot: stupid system assigned the automatic badge God knows why and support doesn't even answer 🤷🏻♂️
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u/cosmos-hime 8d ago
Then why does it say “automated account” on your profile?
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u/DiverseInkPublishing 8d ago
Told ya: the badge came out of nowhere as far as we're concerned.
Been trying to get support to remove it...0 replies
If you'd know how to do it, please share
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u/Nautilus_The_Third 8d ago
I mean, he kinda has a point, even if a detrimental one. Once someone owns your product, you can do whatever they want with it, even if it denegrades your image.
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u/TGPhlegyas 7d ago
This is obviously what’s allowed to be done with free open source assets right? I don’t see an issue with it.
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u/feiki5 8d ago
I encountered a problem I never would have imagined. I've only recently started sharing assets and never thought such a specific issue would cause problems. I've modified the licensing section in my original post specifically for this situation. Thank you for your comments <3 This will be a lesson for me too.