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09-11-2025 03:38 AM
Whenever I try to find a product, I get inundated with low quality ones with AI generated images on them. Is there a way I can filter them out so I can give money to artists?
Solved! Go to Solution.
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09-12-2025 03:17 AM
I will pass on your suggestion @Deirdre
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09-11-2025 07:44 AM
On some search engines and other sites adding "-AI" to your search weeds out AI results, but I just tried this on the Zazzle search and instead it only brought up items that had been tagged AI. What I did notice is that my search without the tag definitely brought up some items that used AI art which were not included in the AI results, but I guess were not tagged as being AI. So, I don't think there's a way that Zazzle would be able to set up a search that accurately filtered out AI unless creators were all tagging their AI artwork as such.
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09-11-2025 07:47 AM - edited 09-11-2025 08:24 AM
This is an excellent idea, and one that a newly suggested idea of adding an AI generated content checkbox (instead of the current required hashtag) could do the trick.
I would also like to see image libraries (like CreativeFabrica, etc.) add a feature to eliminate AI art from their search results. Right now, I search commercial image libraries by using the terms, “vector art” or “eps” as my way of filtering out AI art.
One way to create accurate search results (filtering out AI art) on Zazzle would be to add a required AI Generated checkbox and a Does Not Contain AI art checkbox that must be checked in order to finish publishing a product.
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09-11-2025 06:25 PM
The checkbox would be great! Of course, that would still rely on the honesty of designers admitting that they are using AI. And also I think some people who use purchased graphics don't even know they are AI images because sites like Creative Fabrica don't specify it. I mean, most of us can tell, but I think some people don't realize it.
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09-12-2025 05:22 AM
True. And there's all the gray area of what constitutes an AI design. Does it count if you used AI to develop your idea but created it by hand? What about if you used AI to sketch out your idea and used it as a reference for creating your designs? There are so many ways AI can be involved in your design besides just a completely generated AI artwork.
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09-12-2025 11:28 AM
@tiffjamaica Actually, grabbing an idea from AI is no different from grabbing ideas from nature or buildings or people walking down the street. Throughout history, artists have copied what they've seen even if their ultimate goal was creating an abstraction. The use of AI for inspiration is quite different from using it to put something together in its entirety.
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09-12-2025 02:20 PM
Even so, it's still using AI and if there's a checkbox asking if you used AI in your design, do you check it or not ... that's the question.
Some shoppers are opposed to any use of AI for various reasons and they may want to know if any part of our designs came from it. Others don't care at all. I've talked with people who are against the use of AI even in the idea stages. It's just a lot of gray area right now. I'm not opposed to a checkbox, I just think "AI Generated" needs some defining.
As an artist, I struggle with figuring out exactly where I land in the argument - one day I agree with what you said, and another day it feels like total fraud! 🙃 I understand why artists would want to utilize it and also why they'd be totally against it. It's a conundrum.
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09-12-2025 04:18 PM
I doubt a person would or should feel obligated to say what inspired them no matter where the idea came from, including AI.
As for me, I don't like the look of AI, and more than that, I don't like that it feeds off real artisits.
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09-12-2025 04:22 PM
I feel the same way, Barbara.
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09-13-2025 10:39 AM
That is true. A while back I was experimenting with photobashing and unknowingly was using AI images. Tossed out an entire section of the piece once I realized it was AI.
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09-11-2025 08:40 AM
Not at present, but hopefully Zazzle would adjust and add a setting for sellers to indicate the use of AI. Zazzle is behind on dealing with AI designs. It's getting harder to shop here because the search results are filling with bad AI works, even in the super obscure niches that appeal to me. If customers come here and see a wall of AI, they'll bounce and write Zazzle off entirely instead of searching to find the real stuff.
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09-15-2025 12:45 PM
As an admin in the AI artwork group, I am astounded by what’s being shared as AI created products. Some are image based, then enhanced using aI tools, then there is aI typographic, or digitally styled. That includes anything not hand-drawn or painted by a human using traditional tools. (pencils brushes, pens)
I do know that Zazzle wants all AI products tagged with “generative content” and I think a large percentage of creators are doing that, yes there are a few that fall through the cracks. If the product description and tags was moved to the top closer to the product image then the customer would know that it was aI created. But with so many “other designers” products on the seller’s page, the description and tags are pushed to the bottom.
it’s also worth noting that not all AI-assisted work is low quality many creators use these tools to create works of art they want to create artwork that will sell. For me AI is not easy, its digital, artistic skill.
I feel that filtering AI, photography, and painter-created works into separate dropdowns might seem like a solution for transparency, but it risks fragmenting the browsing customer experience. Instead of helping customers compare styles or make informed choices, it could unintentionally slow them down or frustrate them into leaving altogether.
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09-15-2025 04:26 PM
The contest had strict rules, so for better or worse, the person submitting AI art broke the rules.
Images affect people at a basic level, something that's very difficult to analyze or apply rules to. One of Picasso's famous sculptures happened when he was looking at a bicycle. Inspired, he took the handlebars and stuck them on the seat, turning it into an image of a steer. Did he actually create anything, or did he simply rearrange two parts of a bike? Enjoy: https://www.pablopicasso.org/bull-head.jsp
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09-12-2025 03:17 AM
I will pass on your suggestion @Deirdre
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09-13-2025 10:37 AM
Thank you very much!
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09-13-2025 02:47 PM
I subscribe to a pile of artists on YouTube, which is where I found out about someone who entered an illustration contest, which he won. Then swarms of real artists wrote to the organizers to say the person had used AI. They were able to pick it out immediately and describe the clues. The guy was booted from the roster of winners.
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09-15-2025 12:25 PM
I have an AI watercolor of Alaskan moose wall art at my store. That was created over three days using my own calibrated process. This is not stock art or a licensed download it’s mine, built from scratch.. I would not be happy if my AI art was filtered out of the marketplace and put into a dropdown box.
I agree with you that it’s deceitful to submit artwork as original human created to a contest. But wonder if the rules said no AI generated? Anymore you have to have that written in contest rules. It hits me wrong, like when I submitted an original photo of nature to a local contest. The rule said no editing allowed, and the winner clearly used photoshop, it was beautiful but still did not abide by the rules of the contest.
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09-14-2025 07:43 PM
I made the suggestion over a year ago to have a drop-down box in the search for generative content (Ai) paintings, photograph and other. But as you can see no such category dropdown is being offered at Z.
I have had a year to think about it and I wonder if the breakdown would slow down the shopping experience: If customers want to compare different types of artwork, they must repeatedly open and close the dropdowns. This makes comparing across categories slower than if all categories were shown. Honestly, I think the way Z does the marketplace is the best for the customer. Example a watercolor digital or painted floral thank you card…just show everything to the customer and let them decide what they want. I think if the customer has to compare AI to Painting that you might lose the sale because it’s too time consuming. Anyway, that’s my opinion …and by the way I sell more Ai digital artwork than my original photographs or original painting. Alos I wish it was as easy as putting in a few prompts and creating magic., it takes me hours to create a digital watercolor, and sometimes I walk away and come back the next day to recreate. AI is not as easy as everyone thinks
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09-15-2025 04:12 AM
You got me thinking about the broader subject, which is that there's a lot of AI on Zazzle, but there are also lots of designs built from clipart or manipulated photos, and they don't require a special category, so why AI? If that's what the customer likes and wants, why should they have trouble finding it? I think artists see AI as a threat, and in a way it is, but it isn't the same as that contest I described where someone managed to deceive the judges. AI is deceit only when the creators claim they did it with their own camera, pencil, pen, or paint. I've yet to see an example of such deceit here on Zazzle. Omission, yes, but deceit, no.
Those of us who are artists should take a look at what happened when photography showed up and the artists thought they were doomed.
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09-15-2025 11:44 AM
I follow Zazzle’s policy for tagging “generative content,” and I always include a note in my product descriptions: “AI-created design by Susang6.” That means I created the artwork myself my design using AI watercolor. Nothing is downloaded from an online platform or sourced through mass art licenses.
I know not every creator tags their AI work, and not every product on Zazzle is labeled as generative content. I also know many designers use licensed artwork from places like Creative Market to build beautiful products. That’s valid but it’s not the same as original art.
There’s a difference between buying a license and building something from scratch. I think of that watercolorist in Australia she paints every invitation by hand, and it takes her days. That’s art. That’s the kind of work I respect and try to reflect. But I still think it’s wrong to have a dropdown box to filter out AI generated products. It's just not friendly to the customer. I think it's best for the customer to see everything at the marketplace and allow them to buy the product design that they like.
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09-15-2025 10:57 PM
@Susang6 wrote:But I still think it’s wrong to have a dropdown box to filter out AI generated products. It's just not friendly to the customer.
I imagined it as something like the photo filter when searching for, say, Christmas cards. If the customer wants to include one family photo, they tick the 1 photo box and get cards with space for one photo. If they don't want to include a photo, they tick the 0 box. And if they don't care, they don't tick any boxes and get the full range of invitations with anywhere from 0 to, I don't know, 10 photo spaces.
For AI, if they want an AI-generated image, they tick the AI box. If they don't, they tick the no AI box. And if they don't care, they don't tick either box and get a mixture of AI and no-AI products.
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09-16-2025 01:30 AM - edited 09-16-2025 01:34 AM
Actually, I disagree with your idea entirely. The dropdown idea isn’t just flawed in execution it’s flawed in concept. Most customers aren’t thinking in terms of “AI vs. human” when they shop. They search by theme, color, occasion, or style. Adding creation-method filters turns a simple search into a technical decision, and that’s not customer-friendly.
The AI category itself is a mess: typography, digital illustration, stylized painting, hybrid workflows. And then there’s licensed content from places like Creative Market is not AI, but also not original human-made art by the seller. That’s a gray area; you just can’t by licensed watercolor art and slap it on a mug and say I am watercolorist.
If I’m a customer looking for a “pink floral thank you card template,” I don’t want to sort through five creation methods to get there. I want to see the best options.
Customers buy what they like. Most don’t care how it was made unless it’s misrepresented. I read a Stanford study showing that when AI-generated art entered the marketplace, total image sales went up, but human-made art declined sharply. It’s a reminder that “art is in the eye of the beholder,” and buyers respond to what they like and not necessarily how it was created. here's the article if you are interested.
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09-16-2025 03:39 AM - edited 09-16-2025 03:41 AM
That is a fascinating article. It looks like they got their data from a stock photo site (because those have an "editorial content category" which is only supposed to be for things that actually happened). The increase is good for customers and bad for sellers unless those sellers also start using AI. The variety is increased.
Flooding can be a problem, as noted in this study. The fact that Zazzle requires products be made one at a time helps. If it gets to be a strain on their servers, they could always introduce a products-per-time-span cap.
The whole point of the generativecontent tag seems to be so that Zazzle can do the exact same research in-house. It's not like any customer will type that in. We will likely never know the results of such research.
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09-16-2025 12:43 AM
As far as an optional filter for customers to use, why not? They already have this:
(more info on this filter and all its sub cats in this thread)
AI, hand drawn, licensed stock, public domain .. they could all be included there or in a separate filter. But my personal feeling is that 1) most shoppers just don't care and 2) even if they do it's not obvious or intuitive how to add a filter to results and then keep narrowing down by the sub choices of that filter so who's actually using that?
Moving away from the idea of adding a filter button for customers (or a default tag option for designers to say something is AI, as suggested elsewhere) there is the root issue of what exactly would be deemed as enough AI to warrant use of the tag or filter? I expressed my opinion on this here so don't want to sound repetitive, but, there is such a huge spectrum of AI involvement in published designs it would be ridiculous to implement one tag/filter to be applied cookie-cutter to all.
And moving on from that, why should designs that incorporate AI at some immeasurable and/or self-described level be singled out if licensed/stock/public domain images don't have to be? The use of stock is and always has been rampant but the general reasoning is - it's not my original artwork but it's MY design, it's MY talent as a graphic designer who put all the elements together into one pleasing cohesive design that makes it MINE. It's not the source of the orig art that matters or is the source of pride, it's the graphic design work putting it all together. So I ask again, why should work incorporating AI be seen/treated any different? Is one's talent as a graphic designer suddenly diminished because they are using AI elements in their work instead of or along with stock/public domain ones?
I have the upmost respect and admiration for natural artists as it's not a talent I was blessed with. I understand the fears and concerns of such artists over the rise of AI use in POD. However, I think most of the outcry comes from artists themselves, not from consumers. If shoppers happen on a product/design and it fits their mood and need at the time, you've got a sale regardless of the origin of the imagery involved. Again, I truly understand why that bothers natural artists, but Zazzle doesn't position themselves as a marketplace for 100% hand-done art. They're a platform probably best known for the extreme customizing customers can do on the many thousands of "templates" they host. There is no promise or expectation that all work found is orig, it could be stock, public domain, hand done by the seller, AI, or a combination of all of the above. How the imagery in your overall design (which composing is an art in itself) was made is IMO largely irrelevant to the average shopper and up to you as the designer to focus on (or not) when promoting.

