When is it ok to use an AI in your work?

Blender Courses Ask
#1

So recently I was exploring some blender plugins on the blender market in order to make my workflow better, or just you know experiment with an options more. One thing that caught my attention was plugins that use AI to do the work for you. And that is like wow! I could be able to do so many things better and faster! but at same time I am concerned that by using AI I may lose a license to my work? if that makes a sense? because then the work is not entirely done by me?

So I want to hear your take on this, cause what I think is that AI can elevate my work and inspire me to create better results, just by showing me an options, that I might not have considered right?
But what in case if I want to participate in a challenges and portfolio pieces, is using AI ok to help me get my work done in these cases?
From my knowledge some people and companies highly disregard using AI and treat that as a cheating way to get your work done, and I totally understand that. But thing is if this could help me get the result exactly how I want, and if it’s free to use then why not?
I am aware that AI may generate the result that may resemble someone else’s work, because that’s how it’s trained using Art made by professional artists. So I know if I use an AI I may encounter a licensing issue that may ask me to remove my work. But I think it’s only in case if I use straight AI input and call it that I created that render without mentioning that I used AI to help me come up with this result.

So is it ok to use AI to generate some part of the project? like for example, I created model but I used the textures in it that was generated by AI, and then I edited them a bit for my taste. Would it be then fine to call that Art piece of my making?

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#2

I use AI for voice in my project as well, mainly because I can’t afford real voice actors

My take on your scenario, is just make sure it does not have any copyright laws or what not. Just don’t get yourself into legal issues, and always make sure you got all the rights to your work

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#3

Ok so how would I go about it? How can I make sure I have all rights to my work?

I am not a professional artist by any current measure because I haven’t worked in this field ever before. But it’s something I am considering and it is my goal to enter this industry sector. By industry sector I mean, well precisely I want to become character designer and make my work in 3d software which is blender for me for now and get paid for doing that. I would like to work either independently or in some studio and work for them.

So that’s why I am considering using AI to improve and speedup the process a little bit and my concern is if it’s alright to use AI in this process?

Like do you have any issues with using AI voice in your project? how do you handle legal issues, have you ever had any?

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#4

I haven’t even gotten to the part of getting into legal issues just yet, but what I personally do, is ask the author of the asset once, and be very clear with my intentions about how I want to use it

And if they agree, that’s a green light. If they don’t, that’s a whole other story depending on what I’m dealing with

Just make sure that you’re clear of any doubts before you even start

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#5

Alright, but in case of an AI you may not know from which artist the asset is coming from. So if you have no way to ask for permission, then would it be ok to still use it?
What I mean by that is to use some generating software that creates the voice samples for you and then you want to use it in your project, would that be ok to do?

The thing about AI is it’s almost impossible to clearly find the author unless the style is very distinct, like if AI copy the voice of popular actor, then my take is if someone finds out and report it then you may get in legal trouble right?

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#6

Which is why you have to make absolutely sure that everyone involved has given their consent

If someone complains about you, that’s going to be a large lawsuit battle which you may or may not be ready for

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#7

OK I understand, this is how would I proceed if I want to use someone else’s work. So in that case, just mentioning that AI assisted me with for example
“I used AI to generate textures, to create that piece” is enough? Cause I can’t really tell who the asset belongs to because it was randomly generated by AI.
So let’s say I want to participate in Art challenge, where you have some topic and you do your project according to that topic. And you used AI software to create some, but not whole part of the Project, would that be acceptable? or simple act of using AI automatically disqualifies me from that challenge because I leveraged some part of the workflow with the help of an AI?

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#8

Note that most AI applications are nothing but huge search engines with ability to show results in a human-understandable interface (be it text, image…) which is intended to make you think it’s real (even if it gets you absolutely wrong results, which the AI cannot know at all - nor cares about at all). There is nothing original in AI. There is absolutely no warranty that it does not infringe copyright and, knowing how most large model training goes, you can be sure that it DOES. If your point is to demonstrate what you can do, then using it as you use any search engine for background information (e.g. “how does a rusty sword actually look like”, “how were carriages in the Middle Ages in Italy”) is good (well, you will have to consider up to which extent you can trust it), but then the work must be yours to be sure it is your original work. If you use it for professional work, the same applies with the added issue that you have a customer whose rights may be compromised. Overall, I would advise to use it as you use any publicly available material when you don’t know where it comes from.

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#9

As a voice actress myself, I cannot but recommend hiring someone. Not all of us have famous, extremely expensive voices :grin:.

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#10

Is it ok to use computers? AI is so intrisically connected to everything we do today that everyone is using AI regardless if they’re aware or not.

because then the work is not entirely done by me?

This is entirely subjective philosophy. Each person you meet will have a different opinion regarding this.
As for me, nothing you create will ever be entirely done by you.

But what in case if I want to participate in a challenges and portfolio pieces, is using AI ok to help me get my work done in these cases?

Does the specific challenges and portfolio you’re talking about allow you to do this?
As far as I’m concerned, my portfolio is mine and I can show whatever I want to my customers.

I am aware that AI may generate the result that may resemble someone else’s work, because that’s how it’s trained using Art made by professional artists. So I know if I use an AI I may encounter a licensing issue that may ask me to remove my work

Weren’t you also trained by using other people’s work? Did you get permission to store all of that information in your brain and use it?
Wouldn’t you possibly encounter licensing issues regardless if you used AI or not?

So is it ok to use AI to generate some part of the project? like for example, I created model but I used the textures in it that was generated by AI, and then I edited them a bit for my taste. Would it be then fine to call that Art piece of my making?

Never ask for legal advice online, no one here has formal training in law school to give you legal advice.
Study your own country laws, study the legal precedents in your specific city or state.
Many legal battles are extremely complex, it’s rarely black or white.

Did you know that two judges of the same jurisdiction could interpret the same laws differently and give different judgements?

You need to study copyright laws, what constitues infrigement and how exactly the tool you’re using works. So many Anti-AI users assume that AI tools are infringing on copyright without having actual proof.

You’re not obliged to expose your inner workflow process or give credits unless you’re obliged by law.
Your work ethics and morals aren’t of anyone’s concern here. If you’re not infringing upon any laws, then there’s nothing to be discussed, that’s between you and your country’s judges.

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#11

An important point here is that there is no transparency as to the source of the AI engine training (and some of us have experience at that). Therefore, a general advice to consider that you don’t know where things come from and to act accordingly is still a good start point.

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#12

There is nothing original in AI.

Is there anything original in human brains? Did we get permission to store all the information we gather from the world inside our brain or do our brains magically create new knowledge?

There is absolutely no warranty that it does not infringe copyright and, knowing how most large model training goes, you can be sure that it DOES.

No you cannot. Do you have proof that every single AI Tool out there is infringing upon copyright? Which copyright laws from which country you’re talking about?
Is there any absolutely warranty that any work done “entirely” by humans doesn’t infringe upon copyright either? So does it mean that before AI it was impossible to infringe upon copyrights?

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#13

Hoarding “publicly available” information (which may or may not be presented along with copyright notices) has been a way to train quite a few AI engines (and still is). Even taking information published by someone who did not know or did not think about this being a potential issue, or by someone that never thought that their stuff would be used for anything, can lead you (or a customer) to a wrong situation. This is the reason for my recommendation. The opposite is also valid; many people do not want their work being reused as if it were nothing, unless they explicitly say so.

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#14

It was technically possible since people started learning from each other, and long before laws were created about it. But this was not the point :woman_shrugging: :grin:

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#15

I’d be down to hiring a team if I had the money for it. Personally, I prefer human voice over AI, BUT… Considering that I’m in a negative budget already, I don’t see this being a safe option anytime soon

I’m not a big fan of AI (especially that I worked on NLP Models in the past), but I have to work within my means, and if AI can do it for me without copyright or infringement issues for the time being, then that’ll be my choice :slight_smile:

AS LONG AS THERE ARE NO LEGAL ISSUES INVOLVED IN THIS

2 Likes
#16

AS LONG AS THERE ARE NO LEGAL ISSUES INVOLVED IN THIS

We are a GameDev Community, it’s pointless discussing laws and philosophical moral/ethical issues here.
You’ll get much more value by doing an individual study session according to your specific circumstances. Each legal case is unique and multifaceted.

You appear to be like me, too anxious about potential legal cases that will never exist in the first place. Legal cases cost obscene ammounts of time and money.
It’s extremely unlikely that poor small fish like us will be sued by anyone, no one cares about us and that’s good.
Make it big first to the point of having money to hire a lawyer to do the worrying for you.

Copyright strikes exist for a reason, not every strike will instantly become a proper legal case. Theoretically no one can outright sue you without doing the proper Cease and Desist process first.

The truth is that justice systems are corrupt, so many innocent people being imprisoned and so many guilty ones being absolved.
Being 100% “clean” isn’t guarantee that you won’t get into issues.

If you really were to get into a legal battle, why would you give your enemies weapons to use against you?

Do not expose your inner workflow, your tools and your sources. No one needs to know. :shushing_face:

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#17

Watch Austin Meyer’s Patent Trolls Saga. It shows the other side of the coin were an Innocent Developer was falsely accused of IP Infringement by abusive corrupt Judges.

The Patent Scam Intro (youtube.com)

It could increase your anxiety, but fear not, in the end Austin won and issues like this are even more scarce nowadays.

Do not be afraid, just take the risk and do your thing.

#18

Portfolio link?

#19

I’m just worried about Steam’s review policy, that’s it :sweat_smile:

#20

I usually contact on a project basis with appropriate samples.

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