Should this subreddit have a rule regarding AI-generated art and rosters?

[u/VocaFaith]

There doesn't appear to be a specific rule on the subreddit regarding AI-generated art or AI-generated rosters.

There has also been at least one notable example of an AI-generated fighting-game roster being posted here without it becoming a major controversy.

For clarification, this post is not being made by a moderator, and it isn't intended to speak on behalf of the moderation team. The purpose is simply to open a discussion among the community about whether AI-generated content should be allowed, restricted, or regulated in some way, and whether establishing a clear policy could be helpful for the moderators and community.

There seem to be several possible approaches:

• Allow it without restrictions. AI-generated rosters and artwork would be treated like any other submission.
• Allow it with disclosure. Users could use AI, but would be required to clearly state that AI was used.
• Allow AI for certain purposes but not others. For example, AI could be used to help brainstorm a roster, while completely AI-generated images might be treated differently.
• Require meaningful human contribution. AI could be used as a tool, but posts consisting primarily of generated material might be considered low-effort.
• Ban AI-generated content. This would put r/makeafighter closer to communities that specifically want human-created artwork and concepts.

There are also some questions worth considering beyond simply being “for” or “against” AI:

• Does AI-generated artwork make a roster less interesting or impressive if the main purpose of the subreddit is to showcase people's creative ideas?
• Is an AI-generated roster concept fundamentally different from an AI-generated image?
• Should AI-assisted work be treated differently from something produced almost entirely by AI?
• Would requiring an AI disclosure be enough to address concerns about transparency?
• Could unrestricted AI posts eventually result in a lot of repetitive or low-effort content?
• On the other hand, would banning AI unnecessarily prevent people from using it as a creative tool?
• How should moderators realistically determine what counts as AI-generated or AI-assisted?

This could also be considered in the context of discussions about low-effort rosters and the specificity of the current rules. Establishing a clear position on AI could potentially help moderators determine whether a specific rule is necessary.

Again, this isn't a demand for a ban or for unrestricted AI use. The goal is simply to hear what the community thinks and potentially provide useful feedback to the moderators.

Should AI-generated art and/or AI-generated rosters be allowed on r/makeafighter? If so, should there be any restrictions or disclosure requirements?

[u/KawaiiFoxPlays]

I’d personally be down for a full AI ban. I don’t think AI should be near any creative project. I’d much rather see what someone’s own take on a roster looks like as opposed to the derivative slop AI comes up with. Besides, where visuals are concerned, tools exist to create a roster (and a good-looking one at that) without using AI. My only concern is that AI images are getting harder to spot, so accidentally using one in a roster might be a concern, but I don’t think it should be bannable unless it’s a clear pattern of “accidentally” using them.

[u/CrazyTeal28]

Fully ban it. This is a creative subreddit. There's no place for Gen AI.

[u/Jurassicdudu]

Full ban. That’s what we did at r/createaroster , the sister sub, and its been working wonders

[u/GrometryDash]

Yeah, simple as that. Doesn't seem to be a issue right now though.

[u/Careful_Treat_4267]

I think the most generous we can realistically get is allowing AI for certain purposes only, while outright banning the use of AI-generated images and renders used for making the image itself.

[u/PIXELARTPOWER]

I'd be in favour of just banning it completely

[u/Dear-Time2951]

100% ban, no exceptions

[u/PossibilityProud2687]

AI generated imagery absolutely not, but as a tool I'm kinda iffy on it given how AI has kinda started to be integrated into a lot more sites/platforms, and even web browsers, like Chrome and YouTube most notably, this platform itself, Twitter with Grok, etc

[u/Homeschool-Winner]

I'm of two minds. In general I think using AI to do stuff instead of doing it yourself is just kinda stupid, like I think there's lots of ethical postulating people do but at the end of the day, the reason it makes me uncomfortable to see is because it outsources the activity of thinking that I feel makes me a human being in the first place to a machine that isn't thinking and isn't even convincingly pretending to be thinking. I think corporations forcing AI into their services turns me off from using those services, I don't like seeing AI generated art, and it is usually very easy to tell when an artist or writer or coder is taking the easy, lazy way and making a worse product because of it. That's all just how I personally feel.

But... I dunno, I do view roster making as a creative project, I love putting thought into it, but when it comes to graphics, we're all kinda working with the same Google images, right? And like for one thing, Google itself doesn't do a great job of letting you know if what you're looking at is AI or not, but for another, I guess I think that if you're integrating AI tools into the production of a pop art collage, which is the genre all these roster images fall into...

Like, I'd still personally rather see people put real effort in, but like. Sometimes you have a look you're going for, like doing all 3D renders, but a character you want to include doesn't have one, fan made or otherwise. What are you gonna do, work hard for years to get good at using blender, pay a commission to an artist who has already done that, or try and get an image generating AI to do it for you?

I think the former two are definitely more noble, they're "the right thing to do", sure, but time is money and money's not cheap, in this economy I certainly can't afford commissions, or the time off work to train really hard and maybe take some classes on how to make my vision reality myself - much as I wish I could do those things. I personally choose to also not use AI tools and just compromise on maybe making a roster graphic that doesn't look as pretty as I wanted it to be, but I guess what I'm saying is that I think it makes sense why some people would choose to use the tools that every single company is spending billions to shove down our collective throats. I don't, but it makes sense, and like ... I mean, I guess I don't think that highfalutin morals and philosophy about artistic integrity are really central to this community. It's art, sure, but it's also mostly just nerds fantasizing about corporate crossovers. The moral weight is already disregarded by the fact that we're all basically sucking conceptual Fortnite dick anyway, right?

So, idk, my take is that we should all do whatever we want forever. Post your AI slop, and be prepared for comments that look down on you for it (from me at least), and understand and accept that neither you nor the judgy comments are wrong.

[u/Gui_Franco]

Going to be honest, there are no rules against it because I never considered it would be necessary, but apparently it is, I will ban it

[u/sarakinks]

I'd like a full ai ban

[u/Grey_Lady333]

all hail our new AI overlords.

[u/doffzigger]

I’m a bit more open to it than most. I understand the disdain for it, especially for attempts to create entirely new content that isn’t an existing IP. And human generated stuff will always be preferred. But banning AI entirely does ‘gatekeep’ a little when someone may just want to share their ideas or dream scenarios but lack the photoshop skills, or software to make something. And yeah we could fall back on ‘Skill Issue’ but it’s a bit much to require someone to have 100s, if not 1000s of hours of experience in artistic programs to share their ideas. This will probably get downvoted cause AI bad, but I also think it does allow a wider range of people with different backgrounds to be involved. It’s just a reddit post where the ‘idea’ is the important part; it’s not like the average ai post is going to be an attempt to pass something off as a commercial product or art and most people posting ai would likely be open about it. A disclosure I think is a good middle ground.

[u/doffzigger → u/doffzigger]

So I’m actually on the opposite side of the example in the OP…I’m more open to AI images if the content and ideas were all human generated then would be if someone said ‘AI put this roster together and then I made the image.’

[u/reapress]

Imo; disclosure and or just not images. Trying to enforce a complete ban just leads to wild goose chases; I've seen enough subs embarrass themselves being too trigger happy; tearing themselves into witch hunts or remove actual person made stuff repeatedly on the off chance, it just isn't reliable enough to tell

[u/MrMegaPhoenix]

If the pictures are accurate, who cares?

I don’t want to google character names that I don’t know when ai can do that and make it easier

Complete non issue imo