London-based animation software developer CelAction has announced their pledge to only use AI in their products if the AI has been ethically trained.
“We, like most other content-creation software developers, have been exploring the possibilities of integrating AI into our products, but it has become clear to us that without clear guidelines designed to protect creators, AI could do far more damage than the benefits it would bring,” said CelAction CEO Andy Blazdell. “Creators are quite rightly scared that their work is being repurposed without their knowledge or consent, and it is the responsibility of the software developers to allay those fears and protect the hard work of artists and programmers.”
CelAction’s pledge is twofold: Firstly, the company will not use generative AI without a chain of ownership to create its products or marketing materials. So, no automatic code completion tools and no generative AI sound, voices or images, unless it can be proven that the AI was trained on material that was knowingly given by the original creators.
Secondly, in any AI tools that CelAction may implement into its products, the AI will be trained ethically, either from material knowingly given by the original creators, or by the user of the product. So, clients can let it learn from their own data, or use data that CelAction has responsibly sourced.
“Fortunately, most of our clients so far are only interested in their own unique creations, and reject the idea of diluting the originality of their work with homogenous input from AI,” continued Blazdell. “But we call on all serious software companies to join us in our pledge to protect the community that we owe our livelihoods to.”
CelAction has been providing animation software solutions to the 2D industry for over 20 years, helping to create successful and award-winning shows for clients such as Aardman, Karrot Entertainment, Folimage and Tiger Aspect. Their flagship product, CelAction2D, allows small teams of animators to work on complex productions using advanced skeletal-based rigs, creating high-quality animation in short time-frames and in a variety of visual styles. CelAction2D is used to create Bluey, Peppa Pig and many other hit shows.
Learn more at celaction.com.
