Dungeons & Dragons Responds After Artist Admits to Submitting AI-Enhanced Art for New Book

Dungeons & Dragons' soon to be released sourcebook contains artwork "enhanced AI," although Wizards of the Coast says they are updating their Artist Guidelines to prevent future AI art from being submitted. Earlier this week, Ilya Shkipin stated that he had used AI tools to "enhance" several pieces commissioned by Wizards of the Coast for Bigby's Presents: Glory of the Giants. Shkipin has worked with Wizards of the Coast for past D&D pieces, with the artist credited as a concept illustrator for The Wild Beyond the Witchlight and credited as an interior artist in both the original Monster Manual and the Dungeon Master's Guide. In recent years, Shkipin's work had turned towards digital and AI art, with Shkipin launching an NFT company in October 2021. 

The pieces of art aren't fully AI-generated but rather use AI tools to touch up or clean up pieces of the artwork. We'll note that given the timeframe for a D&D book's development cycle, AI art wasn't as prevalent as it was today when the art piece was likely turned in. However, the artwork in question still features some of the hallmarks of AI artwork, with strange fingers and identical joints.

While Shkipin admitted that he had used AI tools to "enhance" concept illustrations and work, Wizards of the Coast claimed they were unaware that Shkipin had used AI until this week. A representative for Dungeons & Dragons told ComicBook.com that Wizards was unaware that AI was used to create the pieces in question and that the artwork was commissioned over two years ago and was turned in over 18 months ago. Additionally, the representative said that in response to the situation, Dungeons & Dragons would be updating its artist guidelines to clarify that AI-generated or enhanced art is not to be used. 

Additionally, Shkipin stated on X, the app formerly known as Twitter, that the pieces were "being discussed" and that they were going to be "reworked" after the controversy. Likely, this means that artwork will be replaced in future print runs of Bigby's Presents: Glory of the Giants and D&D Beyond. 

Other RPG publishers have committed to banning the use of AI artwork, including Paizo. When discussing the situation with Wizards, a representative for the company noted that Dungeons & Dragons was made by humans, for humans, and that they would try to make that clear to artists moving forward.