04/20/2026
Feels important and long overdue but...
AI is slop trash and we will never use it on any of our own PinVault-made branding or PinVault-created content.
(We won't police it on the materials of anyone else. We have been included on materials where it was used.
But this is where we stand.)
We're deeply fortunate to have an amazing original brand from Daniel Jewett. And enough of our partners are Adobe literate to get by for our other materials. (Additionally -- and ridiculous to have to even say it -- all these posts are actually written by a real idiot.)
Look, pinball needs to remain a creative space because it IS the creative space. AI is too easy to excuse away as a factor of convenience, a time and cost saver, a friggin' whatever.
That sucks! Pinball is a fount of originality. To see it reduced to prompts in so many capacities is hell on our eyeballs and a stab through our Heart of Rock 'n' Roll. (Greg Freres, you wonderful king.)
We got into pinball because of the wonderment of walking up to a piece of artwork for the first time and having your mind blown by the detail and passion that went into its creation -- one of the most fundamental things a living being and only a living being can feel, goddamnit!
Yet, some days it really feels like there's more AI art than actual art in this space and that just does an absolute number on our soul. The idea a computer-generated pinball-related image/flyer/event poster/branding package would bring someone into this hobby is diabolical. Is that what we want for the future of the game?
You have our promise anything we personally create will not be made using it. To any of our friends who do use it, again, this is not an indictment of your own use of it! This is simply how we feel and we can no longer, in good faith, not take a stand.
Pinball is the greatest thing ever because it came from the minds of humans who used their own damn hands to make it. Kinda like how you use your own damn hands to play it.
Stand strong, humans. The AI machine cannot rule us. It has no tilt, because it has no soul. Shake it as hard as you need to to free yourself from its tyrannical grasp.
(Happy to offer ample help on marketing, branding, artwork if anyone needs. Primarily: Pay real artists lol.)
