Graphic Artists Guild Advocacy Committee presents: Guidelines for the Ethical Use of GenAI
 
 


 
 

If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu… With that in mind, the Graphic Artists Guild Advocacy Committee has developed a living document: Guidelines for Artists on the Ethical Use of Generative AI. GenAI poses serious challenges for graphics artists, from job loss to the appropriation of style to the generation deep fakes and the perpetuation of stereotypical imagery. But GenAI is also a tool that is becoming ubiquitous in the creative practice. It falls upon artists to set the ethical and professional guidelines, ensuring that best practices are followed to mitigate harms and increase transparency and responsibility in the use of GenAI.
 
 


About Carl Cleanthes:
Carl Cleanthes the Graphic Artist Guild Advocacy Co-Chair as well as a working artist, creative director, and designer  who founded Epic Made, a 2D animation and illustration studio that has spent twenty
 years making work for brands like Netflix, Nickelodeon, Hasbro, and Asmodee. Between the studio, his personal creative practice,  and roughly 160 episodes of his Pixel Retentive Podcast, he sees firsthand how AI is reshaping creative work, and
 he believes there is a right way to build and use it: clean provenance, with a human directing it.

About Lennie Gray:
Lennie Gray is an Atlanta-based creative advocate with a practice rooted in art, justice, and urban sustainability. With a strategy practice developing community-centered and environmentally conscious systems,
 you will currently find Lennie getting their hands dirty building an urban art farm with their partner to support local food access and sovereignty efforts. Supporting cultural expression across creative disciplines to foster a safe space for community
 expression, skill building, resilience, and abundance. 

About Joseph Carter-Brown:
Joseph Carter-Brown is a designer and brand strategy leader helping businesses, nonprofits, and civic organizations design experiences that connect people to purpose. Advocating for people and human-centered
 principles across design disciplines, Joe aims to build systems, platforms, and experiences that are grounded in a simple belief: design is most valuable only when it respects people. As Principal of DOsomething.DESIGN, Joe leads teams and work creating holistic digital experiences and brand platforms.

About Rachel Sheeran:
Rachel holds a leading position on the Executive Board of the Graphic Artists Guild as Advocacy Liaison Co-Chair, where she also plays a pivotal role in the Advocacy Committee. Her efforts center on protecting
 visual artists’ interests, addressing critical issues such as AI ingestion, copyright, intellectual property protections, collective licensing, and the development of tools and policies to support creatives and the creative economy. She’s also built
 a career in the Creative Advertising industry as a Creative Director and Art Director working at the intersection of storytelling, design, and innovation within the creative advertising industry.

About Rebecca Blake:
Rebecca Blake is the Vice President for Interstate and Foreign Licensing and Business Development for ASCRL, the American Society for Collective Rights Licensing, the largest tax exempt trade organization for
 visual artists in the United States. She is working on legislative solution and on developing collective licensing programs for the internal business and educational use of visual works. Previously, she served over 30 years on the board of the Graphic
 Artists Guild, most recently as Advocacy Liaison (2017-2023). She also works as Design Director at Optimum Design and Consulting, a full-service design studio in New York City.