ArtStation Will Block AI Crawlers From Scraping Artists' Work
ArtStation has enabled NoAI protection for new and existing uploads, introduced safeguards against AI crawlers, and acknowledged that its current AI content filters are insufficient.
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ArtStation has announced a stronger set of measures intended to protect artists’ work from unauthorized AI training and prevent generated content from overwhelming the platform.
Effective immediately, ArtStation’s existing NoAI setting will be enabled by default for every new project uploaded to the platform. The company is also retroactively applying the tag to existing projects and profiles, meaning artists will not need to manually update their older portfolio work.
The NoAI tag communicates that an artist’s work cannot be used to train an AI system. Artists who want to permit that use can disable the setting, shifting ArtStation’s approach from requiring creators to request protection to making protection the standard.
ArtStation is additionally working with Cloudflare to identify and block known AI crawlers and automated scraping tools before they can access content at scale. The company acknowledged that no measure can make publicly available artwork completely impossible to scrape, but said it intends to make unauthorized access more difficult and continue strengthening its defenses as the technology evolves.
"ArtStation should be the best place for professional artists to share their work, build their reputation, and be discovered. That means standing behind the people who create the work and making sure great work doesn’t get buried. We’ve been listening closely to the ArtStation community, and the message has been clear: you want ArtStation to take a stronger position on both.
We agree. Protecting artists’ work and making sure great work gets discovered are fundamental to what ArtStation should be. So we’re starting there. Starting today, ArtStation is making protection against AI training the default.
Artists should not have to opt in to ask us to safeguard their work."
- ArtStation Announcement
Normal search engines will still be permitted to index projects, ensuring portfolios remain discoverable by recruiters, studios, potential clients, and other users.
ArtStation has also updated its Terms of Service to reflect the new measures. According to its current AI policy, artists retain ownership of the work they publish, ArtStation will not sell or license that work to AI companies, and the platform has no agreements permitting AI companies to scrape its content.
The announcement notably extends beyond AI training. ArtStation admitted that its current CreatedWithAI label and filtering tools have not done enough to prevent generated images from overwhelming its discovery systems, which is related to past issues users have had on the platform.
Artists have repeatedly argued that the volume of generated content makes original work more difficult to find, portfolios harder to evaluate, and ArtStation less useful as a professional platform. The company now says it is developing improved discovery tools, additional controls, and other methods of ensuring professional artwork is not buried beneath generated content. It has not yet explained what those systems will involve or when they will arrive.
The update follows the recent acquisition of ArtStation and Sketchfab by KitBash, the company behind KitBash3D and Greyscalegorilla. Announced in August, the deal moved both platforms out of Epic Games while leaving their existing portfolios, libraries, subscriptions, marketplaces, and core workflows intact.
Although ArtStation is promising more substantial changes to discovery, it is not currently banning AI-generated artwork. Its policies continue to permit work made with AI tools, provided users own or have permission to publish it. Products containing generative AI material must also carry the CreatedWithAI tag when distributed through the ArtStation Marketplace.
That distinction may remain controversial among artists calling for generated content to be removed completely. However, enabling NoAI across the platform, including existing uploads, represents a meaningful change in ArtStation’s default position.
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