AI & Creative Integrity Policy
Protecting original, artist-created work on IndieMe.
IndieMe is a juried marketplace built around original, handcrafted work created by artists and makers.
New technologies will continue to change how creative businesses operate, but our commitment to authentic
artist-created work remains the same.
Our standard is simple: The creative work offered for sale on IndieMe must originate with the artist
or maker, consistent with IndieMe’s existing handcrafted eligibility standards.
What Is Allowed
Artists may use AI and other digital tools to assist with the business and production of their work.
This may include:
- Brainstorming and research
- Writing or editing product descriptions, marketing copy, or other business content
- Editing or preparing photographs
- Removing or replacing backgrounds in product photography
- Creating lifestyle settings for product images, provided the actual product is represented accurately
- Assisting with production or editing when the underlying artwork or design was created by the artist
The use of digital tools, including drawing software, photography software, laser cutters, CNC equipment,
3D printing, and similar technologies, does not by itself make work ineligible. Existing IndieMe handcrafted
and jury standards still apply.
Using AI-generated content as reference or inspiration is not prohibited when the artist independently
creates the resulting work.
What Is Not Allowed
Generative AI may not be used to create the underlying artwork, design, illustration, pattern, composition,
or other creative content of a product offered for sale on IndieMe.
AI-generated output may not serve as the source artwork, design, composition, or other creative foundation
of the product being offered for sale.
AI-generated creative work does not become eligible simply because it has subsequently been modified,
traced, redrawn, repainted, digitally altered, or otherwise transformed by the artist.
When an AI tool generates substantial new creative content that becomes part of the finished product or
design, that use is considered generative rather than assistive.
Disclosure that a design was AI-generated does not make the product eligible for IndieMe.
Product Images Must Remain Truthful
AI or digital tools may be used to enhance product photography or create lifestyle settings, but they may
not materially change the product itself or depict features, materials, colors, proportions, details, or
variations that the buyer will not actually receive.
Protecting the Integrity of the Marketplace
When questions arise about how a product or design was created, IndieMe may ask an artist to explain their
creative or production process.
IndieMe reserves the right to determine whether work meets our handcrafted and creative integrity standards
and to remove products that do not meet those standards.
Our goal is not to police technology. It is to protect what makes IndieMe worth protecting:
original work created by real artists and makers.
Last updated: September 2026