Highlights
- Wizards of the Coast promises to rework AI artwork in response to controversy over AI-generated art in an upcoming Dungeons and Dragons book.
- Artist Ilya Shkipin admits to using AI in completing the artwork, leading to dissatisfaction among some fans.
- Despite attempts to rectify the issue, the first run of the book may still feature the offending AI-generated art, causing potential further backlash for Wizards of the Coast.
Wizards of the Coast has made an official statement promising to rework the pieces of AI artwork used in one of its Dungeons and Dragons books. This statement came in response to controversy over a long-time Dungeons and Dragons artist using AI to complete artwork for Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants–the next D&D sourcebook.
On August 1, D&D Beyond released an article previewing three frost giants that would appear in Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, an upcoming Dungeons and Dragons sourcebook. However, players noticed two of the three pieces of artwork used in the article looked AI-generated. The controversy began to boil over when the artist–Ilya Shkipin, a long-time D&D artist since 2014–admitted to having used AI to complete these works.
In response, D&D Beyond released an official statement regarding the incident on August 5. According to Wizards of the Coast, it had no idea Shkipin had used AI artwork in the images. WotC and Shkipin spoke about the artwork, and established he would not use AI for any future products from now on. Additionally, Wizards of the Coast is reportedly replacing the images with new ones not made with AI, and is revising its artist guidelines to restrict the use of such technology altogether.
That said, Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants is scheduled to release on August 15–a mere 10 days after the statement was published. By now, thousands of copies of these books have likely been printed with Shkipin’s AI artwork. It seems unlikely Wizards of the Coast will be able to reprint these with fixed images before the expected release date, so there is a good chance the first run of this book will feature the offending art unless Dungeons and Dragons delays it.
Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there. April Prime, another artist who has done work on many previous Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, made concept art of several dinosaurs for use in the new book. This art was then given to Shkipin, who finished them using AI artwork. While Prime was fine with another artist using her work as a base for a final design, she was not happy AI was used in the process, as she is against the new technology.
While most Dungeons and Dragons fans are glad Wizards of the Coast is joining Paizo in taking a stance against AI art, some are dissatisfied with the response to this incident. They do not think Shkipin should be allowed to continue making art for D&D and are skeptical that WotC didn’t know AI was used in the first place. Shkipin himself has locked his Twitter and deleted his ArtStation due to harassment. Wizards of the Coast is still reeling from the OGL controversy from earlier this year, so this is the last thing it needed–and if copies with Shkipin’s AI art are indeed sold when Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants releases, things could get even worse.
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Source: D&D Beyond, Reddit/Elgryn