‘Dungeons & Dragons’ franchise tells artists no AI images

A “Dungeons & Dragons” quest harkens back to a fantasy time filled with elves, orcs and — of course — dragons, not computers and omniscient computing brains, but that’s what helped developed some of the imagery for an upcoming licensed book.

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Hasbro, the parent company that produces “Dungeons & Dragons,” recently found out that an illustrator that had worked with the company’s subsidiary, Wizards of the Coast, for almost 10 years used artificial intelligence to make illustrations for an upcoming publication.

The book is “Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants.” The hardcover and digital versions of the monster guide cost $59.95 and were scheduled to be released on Aug. 15.

Ilya Shkipin, the artist at the center of the controversy, said he used AI to for “certain details or polish and editing,” Gizmodo reported. Shkipin made the statement on Twitter, now X, and has since deleted the post. He said he had enhanced his painted elements.

Wizards of the Coast and D&D Beyond said that they had spoken with the artist and clarified the rules going forward.

“He will not use AI for Wizards’ work moving forward,” a post on D&D Beyond’s social media account said, according to the AP. “We are revising our process and updating our artist guidelines to make clear that artists must refrain from using AI art generation as part of their art creation process for developing D&D.”

Wizards of the Coast said that none of the text in the book was AI-generated, Gizmodo reported.

AI can produce art, but has, what the AP called, “telltale glitches,” including distorted limbs. Fans noticed distorted limbs in the artwork in question and they alerted Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, the AP reported.

AI has come under fire in the entertainment world recently, with artists suing AI companies for using their works to help train their platforms while Hollywood writers and actors are striking over the use of AI and how they would be compensated.

A chapter of Osamu Tezuka’s “Black Jack” book to mark its 50th anniversary was AI-generated using ChatGPT-4, Comic Book Resources and ScreenRant said.

Mattel said it used AI-generated images to help develop new Hot Wheels cars, but the company hasn’t said how much it was used, the AP reported.