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Hiya! So I wanted to make this page to just give a Disclaimer/Heads Up regarding my usage of AI. This is so if you have possible issues regarding the process of creating OCaK, you can just head out now. No hard feelings.

Edit/Update as of 07/06/2026: I'm going to re-work this page as my process has changed/developed. Generally what is listed here is accurate other than I've moved away from using ChatGPT fully. Generally, I use Claude now for written aspects (brainstorming, first draft plotting, website coding, etc) and Gemini's Banana Pro for image generation (along with NovelAI still). I'll be keeping the below information when I update this for transparency. Additionally, the section about tagging will need to be updated, as now that I have the gallery a bit more functional, I can more accurately explain how I'll be tagging images.

Edit/Update as of 07/10/2026: This page is going to have an overhaul. The sections about how I've used AI in previously and updating to include my current process will be moved to my AI process page. I'll be keeping the sections "Disclaimers/Heads Up: Usage of AI in writing, plot, image creations, and misc others", "Real brief, negatives of AI and my personal views:", and will add a section towards the top with a brief list of where AI was used and the REAL rating for the project. I hope this will make it so people can determine if this project is for them or not at a glance while also giving an option for more in-depth explanation of my personal process. Until the my AI process page is set up, I'll be keeping this page as is.

Edit/Update as of 07/12/2026: I've moved the sections that weren't "Disclaimers/Heads Up: Usage of AI in writing, plot, image creations, and misc others" or "Real brief, negatives of AI and my personal views:" the my AI process page and removed them from here. I still need to add the REAL rating with that explanation of that but I think I'm gonna drop the "list of where AI was used", as that's more so covered in the AI process page.

Disclaimers/Heads Up: Usage of AI in writing, plot, image creations, and misc others

I want to start with stating that AI "art", to me, does not exist. AI "creations" exist. Art requires some sort of creative intent behind it and, at least at the moment, machines can not have creative intent. A machine can create almost anything if it's designed and build to do so. Only humans (and I guess animals but that's a whole other debate) can create art. People who generate AI images are not artists, especially not with the history of the ethics behind past and current AI image generation. If we get the point of AI genuinely having creative intent behind the output it produces, then we’ve got a whole other can of worms to deal with.

That being said, I’m going to be upfront and say I have used AI (as a tool) during the process of creating "Of Courts and Kingdoms" and likely will continue to use AI. If you’re bothered by this and/or do not want to consume a project that has any level of AI, I hope you have a lovely day and I’ll see you later! I mean that genuinely, though I know that might not come across in text.

If you’re still around, I’m assuming you’re curious about how I’ve used AI in the project. I’ll give a rundown of everything/every way AI was used. I want to be transparent and upfront with this because I know how today’s internet tends to be. I want the peace of mind of knowing I didn’t unintentionally trick anyone into consuming something they didn’t know the origins of.

Small note: even if an AI image generator calls itself an "art generator", I will always try to refer to it as an "image generator". If I ever refer to an image generator as an “art generator”, please 1) know that I do not mean it makes art and 2) let me know so I can edit it.

Real brief, negatives of AI and my personal views:

With how I use AI out of the way, I want to talk briefly about the general negatives of AI. From being online, I think they can be boiled down to the below:

  1. Environmental Impact
  2. Companies, especially large corporations, using AI to replace humans and jobs
  3. AI being used commercially and not being disclosed
  4. AI models being trained on copyrighted materials

I'm going to try to keep this short as I'd likely go on a far too long of a spiel if I don't.

1) Environmental Impact. This is, personally, the negative I struggle with the most. Yes, AI has an environmental impact. However, there's a conversation to be had about the difference in an individual using AI vs the broader impact of AI infrastructure. Me, as an individual using AI, has an extremely small impact to the environment. One that's probably not even able to be detected. As for the broader impact of the AI infrastructure? Reality is, I'm not in any position to change that. AI companies are, you know, companies. Large companies (which I'd argue the popular AI models are) don't care about their environmental impact. They don't care until they're legally forced to care. I do think AI companies, as all companies who have substantial impact to the environment, should be held more accountable for their impact in ways that actually force them to change. Me using or not using AI isn't going to change that. Maybe that's a selfish opinion but that's frankly how I see it. Small addition: Andy Masley has written a few essays that sums up my feelings about this topic pretty well with sources.

  1. "# Using ChatGPT is not bad for the environment - a cheat sheet" https://andymasley.substack.com/p/a-cheat-sheet-for-conversations-about
  2. "What's the full "hidden" climate cost of a ChatGPT prompt?" https://andymasley.substack.com/p/whats-the-full-hidden-climate-cost
  3. And to cover the idea of "Well if everyone stopped using AI, that would add up!", he's posted an essay about similar relating to climate change "For the climate, little things don't add up" https://andymasley.substack.com/p/for-the-climate-little-things-dont You might agree or disagree with these views but this pretty much sums up how I feel.
Additionally, this conversation of "[Insert item/trend/topic] is bad for the environment" is not new. Look at crypto. Look at the fashion industry. Look at the overconsumption trend. Look at nearly anything that's considered a luxury or a non-necessity. Chances are if you look into nearly anything, there's going to be statistic about how bad that item/trend/topic is for the environment. AI is, at the moment, the hot and trending topic for this conversation but don't think this is an AI only issue. It's a broader issue of companies, frankly, not giving 2 shits about the environment and governments not working to add legal consequences to force these companies to reconsider their environmental impact. AI is part of the problem but it's not the only problem.

2) Companies using AI to replace humans, especially in the creative field. This is where I heavily lean towards being Anti-AI in this topic. To me, once you're a corporation that profits millions to billions of USD a year, you don't really have an excuse to use AI over a human. A company using AI over a human very much does make me view the company as taking the "cheaper" route, especially when they can afford to pay a human for a better product. It's also pretty shady to not disclose when AI was used. People deserve to know how the product they are consuming was created. This also leads to:

3) AI being used commercially, especially without disclosure. Personally, anything that is majority AI created should not be used to directly profit from. It's that reason I'll never use any of the character images I've made from tracing over an AI generated image as say pins, stickers, or just paid digital prints because the base of the image is AI generated, regardless of the process afterwards. I don't feel right directly profiting from that. It's the same reason I don't think people should be selling AI generated images, ESPECIALLY if they try to pass that image off as their own art. I guess there could be a conversation about if it's disclosed from the start if the product is AI generated and people can decide if it's worth their money or not but the issue there is that people would need to start being upfront with if a product is AI generated, not to mention the murkiness of copyright. Which also leads to the final point:

4) AI models are constantly being trained using copyrighted materials. Yeah no, not okay. People should have knowing and willing knowledge and consent to how their creative works can or would be used. I think even if AI models are now trained on only non-copyrighted materials, the well has already been poisoned with that and it's not really something you can fix by dumping clean water into it (if that makes any sense). That's the major reason I don't think anyone should be directly profiting from AI generation. "Fruit of the poisonous tree" and all that.

Additionally! Any and all bases/lineart I own/use, art I've commissioned, and just any image/art that isn't AI or by me will never be put into any AI generator. ONLY images I've created on my own, recreated from AI, or are AI will be considered for prompting.

Small note: I've said "directly profit" a few times so I want to clarify what I mean by that. An example is the chibis I have for my Main/Primary characters. I used AI to generate the base image then retraced/redrew over that image in Clip Studio. These chibis are used in character profiles that do not require any financial cost to view but a person seeing one of these chibis might be drawn to look further into OCaK and might read one of my stories (if I ever put a version of them for commercial profit). Here, I would indirectly profit from the usage of the chibis. Now, say I used the chibis are put them onto pins or stickers and then started selling those. Now, I’d be directly profiting from the chibi images themselves, which have AI as the base/starting point. THAT is what I’m personally against.

Also, one last note on me generating AI images then tracing over that image, yes, I am aware this is not going to make me better at drawing or art in general. I’ll be honest, I’m not exactly looking on improving or getting better at my artistic skills. I just wanted to get the image(s) I had/have in my head out in the real world and using the process from before, I was able to in a way that I’m happy with. And since I’m not making a profit nor would I have commissioned someone if AI didn’t exist, I’ll be honest, I don’t really see the major harm.

AI is being used as a TOOL here. Anything I used AI for (at that moment), I would not have chosen to use a human if AI didn’t exist so no job or financial loss was caused due to my personal AI Usage. Now, I’m going to be honest, I’m not really interested in having a debate about AI. That isn’t what this blog or overall creative project is about. It’s not to flaunt or show “LOOK AT HOW GREAT AI IS”, it, again, is being used as a tool. That’s it. The ONLY reason I will mark anything as AI is to be fully transparent with people and so then people don’t have to question what I post is AI or if it’s my own creative work. I do recognize that by being upfront, people might not believe me when I do say something is my own creative work. That’s fine. I’d rather do this and be upfront so that people have everything they need from me to make their choices informed ones rather than to hide it and personally know I’m not being honest with people.

With all this being said, I’ll likely not engage in any discussion about AI. If anyone does comment about AI, I do request things remain civil. I very much see why people severely dislike AI and I can very much see why people greatly enjoy AI. It’s one of the topics where, personally, both views are valid in their opinions.