Etsy has struggled with the influx of generic “junk” and AI-generated products on its platform. The service updated its seller policies on Tuesday, introducing new labels that clarify whether sellers made, designed, sourced or hand-picked their products. This marks the first time that the seller policies have directly addressed AI, adding clearer guidelines about what the site will and won't accept.
Etsy explained that its new “creativity standards” require sellers to categorize the more than 100 million items on the platform with clear labels indicating how much “human interaction” went into the item. The new labels will appear in the “item details” section of the description.
For example, if a store owner is selling vintage goods, those items will be labeled as “handpicked.” Craft and party supplies will be labeled as “sourced.” Meanwhile, the “handmade” label refers to physical products that the seller made themselves, or with tools like a 3D printer or Cricut machine.
The new “design” label is likely a response to AI-generated items taking over the once-handcrafted marketplace. Etsy has faced considerable backlash in recent years for its embrace of AI art, given the impact it has on more traditional artists. AI tools can generate artwork that mimic an artist's style, and the service has embraced the technology despite ethical concerns.
As the company explains in its Seller Handbook, sellers can “use our unique prompts in combination with AI tools to create works of art to sell on Etsy.” Sellers must label their items with “Designed by,” so buyers know that the item they're buying may have been designed with generative AI, an outside creative partner, or other digital tools.
“Permissible examples include fantasy scenes generated by an AI generator based on the seller's original prompts and inputs, or custom portraits of a buyer's pets generated using AI tools,” the company added. “Sellers must disclose in their listing descriptions if their products were created using AI.”
Sellers are allowed to use AI tools to design items, which Etsy calls “seller-driven AI creations.” But Etsy has added a new rule that prohibits the sale of AI prompts. You've probably seen these types of listings flooding the platform, such as “10,000 Midjourney Prompts,” “Ultimate ChatGPT Prompts Pack,” and others. A spokesperson told TechCrunch that these listings will be flagged and removed from Etsy starting today.
During the company's first-quarter earnings call, CEO Josh Silverman reassured investors and sellers of the company's commitment to keeping “commerce human.” Silverman said the company has seen four times as many removals of listings that violate its Handmade policy compared to last year.