We have received many questions and comments recently regarding the use of AI generated art in some of our promotional and informational materials. Costumer’s Guild West, Inc. is mindful  in how we acquire art, preferring to use known copyright-free art or purchased artwork from online sources like Shutterstock. While we would love to commission or create original art for all of our publications, this is not feasible from either a timeliness or financial standpoint. Our focus in the past has been on making sure that the images we use are legally available, appropriate for the topic, and as inclusive as possible. Until now, we have not devoted a lot of time into confirming our images, paid or free, are not AI generated. This is something we would like to change going forward.

CGW values the work of artists and recognizes that it is important to protect the rights of artists everywhere. We understand that AI art generators are trained on existing art without compensation to the original artists, which is theft. We agree that the use of this AI-generated art is unethical

However, there are many tools and existing programs that have been developed using AI and machine learning.These tools don’t necessarily make art themselves, but make artists more efficient. Often, these tools are unavoidable when using existing applications (e.g. Photoshop, Instagram, Canva).Our policy is intended to balance the use of these powerful (and near-ubiquitous) tools while abstaining from fully generative AI that steals artwork and displaces artists.

Generative AI Art Policy for Costumer’s Guild West, Inc.

1. CGW supports artists. We will make every reasonable effort to ensure that no AI Generated art, designed to bypass or replace human artistry, is used in our media, whether paid or free.

2. We will continue to utilize AI tools that alter existing imagery or otherwise assist in producing human-created art.

3. We will continue to use paid and free online art repositories such as Shutterstock, public library collections, and similar. We will do our best to ascertain that each image is free of generative AI.

4. We acknowledge that the provenance of art can be difficult to track and mistakes will happen. If you find a CGW image that might be AI Generated, we encourage you to reach out to us at [email protected] and make us aware.

If you have any questions regarding this policy, please reach out to us at [email protected].