The Final Fantasy 14 Fan Festival this year instituted rules that prohibit the use of AI-generated content in any entries. For the uninitiated, Fan Fest is Square Enix’s event for Final Fantasy 14 players. It includes live and in-game events for fans to engage and for fans to meet. The North American side of Final Fantasy 14 Fan Fest 2023 will take place this summer in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In addition to major events such as live concert performances of the game’s music, various competitions around the MMO will also be held. This includes the convention’s first-ever video contest, where fans can create videos explaining why they love their particular Final Fantasy XIV class or job, cosplay contests, and fan art contests. This fanart competition can be illustrations, screenshots, or real handmade works. However, this competition has set a new role, explicitly prohibiting the use of artificial intelligence-generated works.
The rules state that submissions will be rejected if any artificial intelligence software is used to create or even generate any part of a contest entry. If the sponsoring judges determine that an entry uses any artificial intelligence software, that entry will be disqualified at the judges’ discretion.
The use of artificial intelligence to generate art has been a hot topic over the past few years. Many have argued how detrimental it is to creativity, since the software requires people to steal artwork from a database for each work to be generated. Art produced from these tools has also been criticized for potentially creating legal problems in the future. As such, some fans and creators in the fandom applauded the move, as some worried that AI art would be allowed after some of the more controversial decisions made by the former Square Enix president.
Fan art contest submissions for Final Fantasy 14 Fan Fest 2023 will be open until May 31, 2023, and submissions need to be completed through the official form on the website. Entries will be showcased online around July 17, and fans can vote for their favorites ahead of the festival.
Final Fantasy 14 is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5.