No AI Art Policy

The Merch Guild does not use AI-generated art on any of our products. Every single design you see in our store has been created by a real person. Each product is painstakingly illustrated or designed by someone who has spent years training in and practicing their skills, and who was compensated fairly for their work.

While there is a time and space for ethical use of machine learning models and AI, generative artwork today is mostly trained on a vast library of art collected without permission or compensation of the original artists. Where permission was technically granted, it was often buried deep within the terms and conditions of a related product, obfuscating the real intent to the artist. That is not something we support.

We do, however, recognize that almost every design tool has AI built in now, whether it is Shopify, Photoshop, Word, or Illustrator. In some cases, it is hard to even know whether a tool is an AI tool or not. These tools are not all unethical, and in some cases can be almost impossible to avoid. For example, we do use tools like the spot healing brush in Photoshop, grammar and spelling editors in Word, and automated product tagging tools in Shopify. We also use product description generation and other LLM tools, but we aim to ensure this is only undertaken in moderation in a non-creative role. We aim to only only use tools that support the product in a non-creative, non-significant way (such as the spot healing tool) and do not replace the creative process or the artists behind it.

We are committed to supporting the creative community and ensuring that real people get paid for their art, whether they are illustrators or authors and everything in-between.