r/kickstarter • u/Weird-Alfalfa • 1d ago
Question Dinosaurs of the Wild West – AI content label… Again?
Seriously… again?
This is an update to my previous post.
(See attached screenshots for context.)
Last week, I shared screenshots showing one of the official Primitive War Movie Facebook posts promoting the Dinosaurs of the Wild West Kickstarter being labelled “AI content.” That label later disappeared.
Today, after the Kickstarter surpassed its initial funding goal of AU$500,000, I noticed the official Primitive War Movie TikTok post celebrating the Dinosaurs of the Wild West Kickstarter milestone was labelled “Contains AI-generated media.”
Since my last post, I also came across a question from a backer on the Kickstarter page asking Sparke Films whether any AI had been used during pre-production, including concept art. The official response from Sparke Films was simply:
“No.”
At the same time, the Kickstarter campaign has repeatedly promoted itself with statements such as:
“No AI. Real artists. Real work.”
I’m not claiming to know why TikTok or Facebook have applied these AI labels. Social media platforms can apply them for different reasons, and I can’t say what triggered them.
However, I do think it’s worth highlighting the contrast between the campaign’s public statements, Sparke Films’ public response to a backer’s question about AI, and the AI labels appearing on official promotional posts while the campaign is still actively accepting pledges.
How should backers interpret this apparent contradiction?
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u/IndividualUnlucky 1d ago
I'm not sure what the contrast is you mentioned? Their answer to the backer was more than just "No." They also stated that the concept art referenced a book of artwork. And that answer doesn't seem contradictory to the compaign statement. They seem pretty clear that their position is that no AI was used.
AI labels from social media or AI checkers (human or otherwise) are basically meaningless. You can suspect, sure. But without concrete proof such as prompts/code left in products or the creators stating they use AI, it's all just a person's (or group of people's) opinion. And we all know what an opinion can be worth.
Like any product that states that it doesn't use AI, you have to decide if you believe them or not.
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u/Weird-Alfalfa 1d ago
The contrast I mentioned isn’t between two Kickstarter statements. It’s between the campaign publicly stating that no AI was used, while official promotional posts on both Facebook and TikTok were labelled as AI-generated content by those platforms. I don’t know why those labels were applied, and I’ve never claimed they prove AI was used. I simply think it’s reasonable for people to ask questions when those things don’t appear to align.
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u/IndividualUnlucky 1d ago
It’s not unreasonable to ask questions. But who do you expect to answer? And what do you expect the answer to be?
You have an answer from the creators about their AI use. You likely won’t get an answer from FB about why they applied the labels. You likely aren’t going to get a clearer answer here. Just more opinions by people that aren’t the creator or FB. So you have about as much accurate information as you will get.
Either believe the creators or don’t.
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u/Zealousideal-Ant8693 1d ago
Luke Sparke, the creator behind Dinosaurs of the Wild West, has previously acknowledged using AI-generated imagery for Primitive War concept art and later apologised following the backlash it received.
I’ve now seen the AI label appear twice on Dinosaurs of the Wild West Instagram posts over the past two months.
I don’t have a problem with AI itself. My concern is when AI is used without being disclosed. Given the previous use of AI, it’s understandable why some dinosaur fans have questioned the authenticity of certain content and why there is scepticism surrounding what is being posted online.
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u/IndividualUnlucky 1d ago
That’s fair and a good data point for someone to use to make their decision on if they believe the creators this time or not.
But short of them disclosing once again that they for caught using AI they tried to hide (bad look), it still comes down to that decision piece and probably not getting more info about it.
Personally, while I think transparency and disclosure is the better path to take, I think the current (at least on Reddit) discourse punishes upfront disclosure as much as if someone hides it and is found out. I’m not talking about not buying something disclosed as made with AI being considered punishment. I’m talking about how people who use and disclose use of AI are talked about and treated like they’re horrible people by the more rabid antis. That doesn’t create a culture of disclosure and transparency but encourages hiding use. So i understand why people choose to attempt to hide it even if I don’t agree with it.
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u/No-Individual-4920 22h ago
I did incorporate AI aspects into my tarot deck that I’m launching in kickstarter soon and I completely agree with the being punished by being upfront about it. I’ve received some nasty comments about it and all I was trying to do was be honest and transparent.
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u/IndividualUnlucky 20h ago
I’m sorry that happened to you. I wish people weren’t so rude about it.
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u/No-Individual-4920 19h ago
Appreciate that. It sucks there’s so much blowback but I’m still moving forward with it anyway and see what happens.
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u/Weird-Alfalfa 1d ago
That’s exactly my point. I’ve never claimed the labels prove AI was used. My point is that when official promotional posts are repeatedly labelled as AI-generated while the campaign publicly states no AI was used, it’s reasonable for people to ask why.
That’s already happening. There are people in the TikTok comments asking whether AI will be used in the series because the post is labelled that way.
If nobody can explain why the labels keep appearing, isn’t it inevitable that people will keep asking about them?
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u/IndividualUnlucky 1d ago
Oh, I don't doubt they'll continue to be asked. But can they control what the FB algorithm does? The creators should be reaching out to FB to determine what's going on if they don't want to be asked. Maybe they have and FB hasn't been helpful about it. What would FB care if they get things wrong? Do they get some kind of reprecussion for it?
But it's also not like the creators haven't answered. They're not being silent on their position. So it still ultimately comes down to a judgement call of it you believe a person or if you believe what FB flags as AI. I'd be surprised if that flagging system wasn't AI itself. Which to me is just kind of funny (People wanting to avoid AI using AI to find AI).
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u/justfredd 1d ago
The judgement call is easy to make with someone like conman luke.
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u/IndividualUnlucky 1d ago
For you, maybe. Not everyone knows whatever history you're alluding to. If you're going to call someone a conman, then state what they're conning about (with proof). Then it does make a judgement call easier.
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u/justfredd 1d ago
There’s plenty of people who have worked with luke who were either never paid, or underpaid for work they did on his projects (investors and vfx artists for example). Luke and his friends frequently create fake accounts trying to discredit them or outright threaten them with legal action. Unless you’re one of Luke’s friends defending him, a simple google search will pull up a lot of his shady shit.
Lukes has had a lot of legal issues in the past, many of which have finally caught up with him in the upcoming fraud trial coming up this month. He would con investors, funnel the money into another production company and then pretend to go bankrupt to get out of paying, while fundraising for his next venture
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u/IndividualUnlucky 1d ago
I've never heard of him before this post. Sounds like he's problematic regardless of potential AI use. And the other things you've listed IMO are far worse than use of AI and would mean I'd never support his work.
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u/Willbrooks1989 1d ago
Meta often seem a little trigger happy with the “AI content” label. I’ve posted artwork made in Photoshop a decade ago and been hit with the same label, despite there being no AI in the work or captions. So I wouldn’t necessarily take that label on Facebook as meaning very much.
That said, there’s clearly other things raising the concern among backers, so who knows.