The head of the LEGO BrickLink Designer Program has commented on an allegedly AI-generated design in one of the Series 9 finalists.
Late last year, the reveal of the Series 9 finalists came with speculation from fans that at least one graphic in the Sleepy Dragon Inn, submitted by French fan designer MarinBD, used generative AI.
While this remains speculation and has not been confirmed, the head of the program has now had the chance to comment on the speculation and any use of AI-generated imagery in the BrickLink Designer Program
"I was kind of surprised by the reaction to this," said Alex Kastelic, Head of the BrickLink Designer Program, to Brads Archives. "I missed [the reaction] in the live reveal because I was doing some background stuff during that interview. I think the fan designer mentioned that the artwork was AI-generated. To me, I look at it and think it's a great tool to level the playing field for fan designers. I'm thinking about myself making stickers, and it would be like they're horrible Microsoft Paint, like terrible stickers.
"Not everyone has graphic design skills, right? And so, that can be kind of a limiting factor for some models or for some people. To me, if you're using AI for it, then that's a great tool for you to do that, right? It is not going to be in the production; all of our stickers are always redesigned. You can go back and look at what the original models looked like, and we work with a LEGO graphic designer to make sure that the stickers meet the LEGO guidelines.
"I know there's a lot of pushback on AI, but to me it levels the playing field, and it's not us using AI, so."
The sleeping dragon design and other graphics in the Sleepy Dragon Inn have not been confirmed to be AI-generated following speculation last year, and the finalist is still scheduled to go up for crowdfunding on October 7.
Thank you for supporting the work we do at Brick Fanatics by buying your LEGO using our affiliate links! Keep an eye on our dedicated Black Friday page for all the latest LEGO deals and promotions.
Comments
Be the first to comment!