no one else uses markdown tables on this site, which is interesting because we otherwise do a lot of performative crime here, so I thought people might like to see how AI art policies on user-generated content sites have shifted after I first started following them in october last year:

Site AI art allowed? Monetizable? Must be tagged? R-18? Deepfakes prohibited? Based in
Pixiv (+ Fanbox) ✔️ ✔️→❌ ~→✔️ ✔️ N/A Tokyo
DLsite (+ ci-en) ✔️→~ ✔️→~ ~→✔️ ✔️ N/A Tokyo
FANZA (DMM) ✔️ ✔️→~ ✔️ ✔️ ❓ Tokyo
Fantia (Toranoana) ✔️→❌ ✔️→❌ ❌→N/A ✔️ ❓ Tokyo
Nijie ❌ ❌ N/A ✔️ N/A Tokyo
Skeb ❌ ❌ N/A ✔️ N/A Tokyo
Niconico ✔️→~ ❌ ✔️ ✔️ ❌ Tokyo
Patreon ✔️→❓ ✔️ ❌ ~ ✔️ San Francisco
Gumroad ✔️ ✔️ ❌ ✔️ ✔️ San Francisco
Fiverr ✔️→~ ✔️ ❌ ❌ ✔️ Tel Aviv

so, what exactly changed here on explicit policy? quite a lot, and probably more than I can outline in this sort-of-comprehensive timeline of events:

  • 2022-10-08 — DLsite announced a suspension of AI works until they could draft policy to require tagging them. at this point, they also clarified they would be favoring an unregulated approach: https://ch.dlsite.com/matome/219466
  • 2022-11-25 — as previously announced, pixiv introduced a way for creators to tag their works as AI generated and also for users to filter that content, making tagging mandatory: https://www.pixiv.net/info.php?id=8828
  • 2022-11-29 — DLsite resumed uploads by introducing AI categories and search filters: https://cs.dlsite.com/hc/ja/articles/12924267427865
  • 2022-12-01 — DLsite began limiting publishing of AI works to up to 2 works per day per circle, indicating that they might adjust release dates to avoid floods of AI content: https://ch.dlsite.com/matome/219466
  • 2023-01-24 — fiverr launched AI categories for sellers, clarifying in their community standards that sellers must have “all necessary rights to the content they create”: https://www.fiverr.com/community/standards/ai-generated-content
  • 2023-02-24 — DLsite revised down their circle publishing limit to one work per month: https://ch.dlsite.com/matome/219466
  • 2023-03-01 — while already prohibited by their existing terms, skeb reiterated that AI content was additionally prohibited from the perspective that infinitely generated, on-demand works could enable credit card fraud. they also took the opportunity to announce they would be using HIVE to detect AI generated content and perform manual moderation of deliverables: https://medium.com/skeb-jp/ai-64daff7ae0e0
  • 2023-03-03 — fanza also began limiting publishing similarly to DLsite, given the close heritage of these two sites: https://twitter.com/bodokumen/status/1631585448215846912
  • 2023-03-20 — patreon began soliciting feedback about how they should handle AI content in the future, with a hedging that they may allow some transformative or partial uses of AI: https://blog.patreon.com/our-first-2023-policy-update
  • 2023-05-10 — pixiv began prohibiting monetization on AI content, including pixiv fanbox and pixiv request, and locked access to existing works: https://official.fanbox.cc/posts/5932126
  • 2023-05-10 — fantia also suspended the sale of all AI works: https://spotlight.fantia.jp/news/ai_policy-2
  • 2023-05-11 — DLsite again suspended the sale of AI works, which also affects their crowdfunding platform ci-en. works that partially use generated content, including novels and games, continue to be allowed, and the one per month limit continues to be in effect: https://info.eisys.co.jp/dlsite/5d752c85cd1379a4
  • 2023-05-23 — fantia outright banned AI content for good and removed any categories associated with it: https://spotlight.fantia.jp/news/ai_guideline
  • 2023-05-25 — niconico rejected a takedown request from an artist that claimed an AI image trained on their style was uploaded to nico seiga, instead responding that they should resolve the issue with the uploader directly. after a brief social media firestorm, nico eventually removed the image, meaning their “only monetization is prohibited” policy is likely more in flux than they let on officially: https://togetter.com/li/2109267
  • 2023-07-11 — pixiv revised their terms to more broadly define AI content to include partially generated imagery, with a notice that their terms would begin being enforced on still remaining content starting the 25th: https://official.fanbox.cc/posts/6292096

there are two main takeaways here: it’s getting much harder to make money off of AI content online, and there’s a clear schism in how proactively the east and the west are approaching policy on generated images. pixiv and fantia have banned monetization, while DLsite and fanza have heavily restricted it, which leaves effectively no crowdfunding venue for AI artwork out east. the shoe dropping on may 10th is a fair indication that payment processors likely threw their weight around here as they have often in more high-profile instances you’ve likely heard about including patreon and pornhub. deepfakes predate the current AI boom, but western sites have so far failed to seriously address the emergence of large models like stable diffusion in their policies. some of that likely reflects that legislation out west has been encroaching on involuntary pornography and deepfakes for the better half of a decade, which means the legal consequences for hosting that class of content have been well understood for a while; japan’s most popular site for voyeur porn, meanwhile, only shuttered just last month off of newly enacted legislation.

the only constant here is that deviantart continues to suck ass, which is surprising because usually adobe is sucking ass harder than anyone else.

2024-02-21 there have been some significant changes on this front that I don't really have time to retrace back right now, but DLsite this week announced they are effectively buckling the same way pixiv did by following fanza in adding a dedicated AI section. partially generated AI works can still comingle in other sections, and the earlier restrictions from the trial period like upload limits and non-strict release timing are coming forward. unfortunately and hilariously, otome games are apparently also second-class citizens here as they're prohibited for now until support can be built out for them in the new section.

even as solutions to this are still in flux, this strikes me as maybe one of the most complicated developments that we've seen so far as we try to understand how large platforms will attempt to corral the AI flood. while pixiv absorbed a lot of ire for legitimizing AI early on in the land rush by crowning it with a dedicated section, they were also the first to lead in the cascade of japanese sites that either prohibited monetization or the sale of generated works outright. operators were undoubtedly skittish about establishing them commercially, but also likely faced pressure from payment processors again unsettled by different standards for adult content. DLsite with this return has pretty clearly signaled that they intend to find a path forward to monetization anyway by building out more infrastrucuture to accomodate it, mainly by quarantining it and enforcing strict limits. even if there are decent arguments to be made that having this sort of release valve might be preferable overall to attempting a blanket ban entirely, which squeezes moderation efforts, the sudden announcement indicates strongly to me that attitudes on what should be restricted are starting to soften again. fanza may have earned a reputation as a "lawless zone" over the last year by allowing questionable applications of AI to flood their site, as one of the few places to have a comparatively relaxed policy, but it also proved a market that has clearly been underserved elsewhere. DLsite, in retrospect, was probably always unlikely to sit idle to that surge, even if it has generated a bunch of bad sentiment among artists that have communicated they feel betrayed by the reversal.

with marketplaces beginning to open up again, bans seem to have now narrowed in on crowdfunding and commissions, where AI is generally guarded against as a matter of safety and fraud. some of that seems to reflect how attitudes in the west, where election fears and deepfakes are the drivers for panic and conversations around legislation, have so far settled into effectively no regulation at all. patreon itself dodged the idea by continuing to ban real porn and by doubling-down on depictions that appear too young facebook and twitter meanwhile are content to say that we may, potentially, see AI labeling in the future, with questions mostly unanswered about how reach and filtering might be controlled. looking back to a site like BOOTH, a relatively hands-off marketplace that still implements creative approaches like delisting generated works from search, japan still looks more proactive in comparison. it may be the only way to preserve a doujin ecosystem that has so far prided itself on self-regulation.