Let me cite from the article, why it’s super bad to have this kind of things sold on Fab, no matter the stance on ethical aspects of generative AI:
The legality of GenAI is still in flux. Yes, big tech companies from Google to Meta to OpenAI are blasting forward by training their models on the entire internet, copyrighted work they don’t own. A number of content producers, from the New York Times to musicians and actors are suing various services and there have yet to be any firm decisions about what can or cannot be used with GenAI.
So the issue here would be that if you use AI assets in the game, and rulings come down that this is all now illegal, you’d have to reshape large parts of your game, or even risk legal action yourself if you were wrapped up with all these other entities.
Personally I would prefer to not have any AI created assets on the marketplace. As a game developer and environment assets seller, I have absolutely no use for AI assets that are flooding the marketplace and drowning out quality packs.
It’s rather frustrating that the FAB store launched in such an abysmal state. I have a popular pack that I still can’t sell because the maturity settings have been broken since it launched and still not fixed. Support staff are abrasive and intentionally unhelpful. Also the amount of horror packs that got flagged for maturity is ridiculous.
The irony is that AI isn’t going to buy products from FAB. They are trying to kneecap their entire customer base.
AI will never surpass human beings creatively. Lived experience and emotional depth cannot be replicated, only vaguely imitated. The hateful jealousy of non artists cheering AI on to destroy the lives of artists and companies like adobe and epic trying to get artists to pay them in service of that goal are signs of a very broken world.
People say this stuff about every new technology, then in 50 years it’s everywhere and in everyone’s lives. People were afraid of cars initially; now everyone has them.
To deny that AI is extremely useful is a bit disingenuous. I use ChatGPT and grok a lot in my day-to-day life.
When the wind shifts, you either stay still and die or you adjust the sails and go with the new direction. Artists will still exist, but only the ones who are good and business-savvy will remain in 10-20 years, this typically scares the ones who are not business savvy.
if people want to create asset with AI let them do it. It’s not like AI will diseapear its in photoshop and dev tool now. its too easy to acess its way too late.
The problem is the way it is used.
NO ONE should be able to send 200 asset a day.
41 000 asset for one persson all with bad quality and barely usable it’s insane that dude made the content of all the website alone in a few month…
And that’s just one guy there is more…
First thing when you detect that a script is trying to send a asset just refuse it…
(impossible to create 200 product per day without using a script)
Add a limit of asset per day or week 5 asset/day is plenty enough.
(Won’t stop them but slow them down)
Add a rule when you have one mesh that is not a character or a scan refuse it if there is too many polygon. 500 000 polygon for a gun is insane.
This should be a good start to filter out those who abuse with AI.
And lastly the fact that those asset are accepted even if thing like overwatch is in the name of the product make me think that someone from FAB is validating those asset on purpose.
I mean if its done by a robot and it stop some asset and not other’s that does the same thing that mean someone accept those by hand… Or there is something weird happening.
If the review was made by human i would get it there is too much flow but a robot?
You say that “most people here do art because there isn’t much else they can do,” as if dedicating years — sometimes decades — to mastering a creative craft is a sign of limitation rather than deep specialization. In reality, many artists have studied extensively, learned multiple disciplines, and adapted to evolving technologies: digital painting, 3D modeling, animation, design — all of which demand both technical skill and constant learning. To reduce that to “you don’t know how to do anything else” says more about your lack of understanding than about their actual abilities.
You suggest artists should “use the thing they hate (AI) to make money and give their families a good life.” But that advice completely ignores the snowball effect — the more people rush to monetize AI, the faster the market becomes oversaturated and devalues creative work even further. If everyone blindly embraces the thing that’s undercutting their industry, they’re not surviving — they’re accelerating their own obsolescence.
And no, artists speaking out isn’t just self-preservation. It’s also about labor rights, authorship, cultural value, and resisting a system that rewards mass-production over meaningful expression. Sure, AI is coming for every industry — but that doesn’t mean people in those industries shouldn’t speak up either. Silence in the face of disruption isn’t a sign of wisdom — it’s just complicity.
Also, AI-generated art being “just as subjectively valid” misses the point. Art isn’t just about output — it’s about intent, process, struggle, context, and meaning. Claiming it’s all subjective is a lazy argument used to flatten the value of human experience. Not everything that can be generated should be equated to what was lived through.
You want artists to adapt? Fine. Many already are. But don’t confuse resistance with ignorance. Some people fight back not because they’re afraid — but because they understand exactly what’s being lost.
This is one of the main points , that some users, seem to not care about, which is a huge part of the problem . AI products have no business being here, none whats so ever.. . as a contractor myself, I have seen it already being illegally using many of our work illegally in AI software and trying to claim as there own and reselling and Epic has no way to police this… So having NO AI ART solves this… period… No one likes there work stolen, we artist spend years, to decades learning and creating, only to have a piece of software that is being abused. So, its solved by not allowing any.
If the assets were somewhere near production ready quality at least, but not even that. All AI art content, so far, has only been able to reproduce low quality slop with bad geometry and worse texturing. Even 2D images, more often than not can be recognized a mile away as a low-quality, low effort placeholder.
The problem lies with it competing in the same space as assets where actual work has been given to. Some dude with 2 minutes writing a prompt shouldn’t have the same visibility as someone who dedicated years of his life to make something worthwhile to the community.
Epic clearly doesn’t care about the several complains about it. It’s a grey area, I get it. At least make mandatory the assets to be on their own category. It won’t hurt to have a special place meant ONLY for AI stuff while letting everything else untouched. Even the… special needs buddy who posted 41k assets could have his place them.
I’ve been uploading models since day 1.
I visited the forum daily.
Had some ideas for different products.
Believed Fab would be the place to sell and make a business.
But now…
I haven’t uploaded a model for over two months.
I rarely visit the forum.
Shelved the new ideas.
Business…I wished.
I’m so sad to say, after such high hopes at the start, that I’ve just given up with Fab…for the time being.
It’s the same problems over and over again with the same tied response over and over again. I was one of those who posted regular about the various problems we still see.
But…I’m happy to see others are still trying to make Fab the place we all hoped it would be.
And I’m hoping I can feel better about Fab sometime soon.
