Tim Sweeney recently revealed that commercial AI models should not use existing artwork without the artist’s consent.
This information was said by Tim Sweeney during an interview with PC Gamer. If you’re interested in the state of the video game industry, you can check out our other articles here.
Tim Sweeney: Commercial AI Should Not Use Other People’s Artwork
Speaking with PC Gamer, Tim Sweeney said that he wants Epic Games to strike a balance between protecting artwork and also engaging creators with new technologies like image generators.
These comments come months after ArtStation, a company owned by Epic Games, created a “noAI” tag that prohibits creative works from being used by AI systems on the platform.
At Epic, we see ourselves as being on both sides. We are creative people. We have a lot of artists in our family. We are also a tool company.
We support a lot of game developers. Some of them will use AI, some of them will hate AI, and we want to be a trustworthy neutral intermediary that doesn’t hinder the development of the industry, but also doesn’t go and take everyone’s data art.
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games
On the other hand, Sweeney also explained that AI systems should not take artists’ works without their consent if the purpose is commercial use.
They scour sites to find other people’s artwork, then use it and don’t ask for their explicit consent.
A company shouldn’t do that kind of thing, right? It may be within the bounds of research, but when you’re selling a commercial product that is used to produce commercial artwork, you shouldn’t be doing that.
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games
