AI Policies
Where the line is, why it's there, and how it applies to you.
These policies describe how Hobbsy handles AI-generated content, moderation, and authenticity. All features described are implemented. Policy text is pending final legal review.
The short version
Hobbsy is a marketplace for handmade work made by humans. We use AI to help sellers run their businesses — writing listings, suggesting tags, translating descriptions, recommending prices. We do not allow AI to generate the products being sold.
That distinction is the entire policy in one sentence: AI helps you sell your art. It does not make it.
The core test we apply:
"Did a human make the creative decisions and execute the primary creative work? Or did a machine generate the creative content with the human acting only as prompter and curator?"
If the answer is the first, AI tools in the workflow are acceptable. If the answer is the second, the work is prohibited regardless of how much editing happened afterward.
Where to read more
What you need to know depends on how you use Hobbsy. Each of the pages below is written specifically for one audience and goes into more detail than this overview.
For Buyers
What you can expect when you shop on Hobbsy. How to recognize legitimate AI-assisted listings. How to report listings you believe violate the policy.
Read buyer guide →
For Sellers
What you can and can't list. The full breakdown of allowed AI uses and prohibited ones. What to do if your listing is flagged.
Read seller guide →
For Visitors
Just browsing? Here's what Hobbsy stands for and what makes it different from other marketplaces, before you decide whether to sign up.
Read visitor overview →
Moderation Standards
How we evaluate reports, what evidence sellers can submit, and the process from report to decision. Public so everyone knows how the system works.
Read moderation policy →
The principles, briefly
Across all four audience-specific pages, the same handful of principles apply. If you remember nothing else from this section, remember these:
- AI as a tool serving a human creator is allowed. Style filters, upscaling, photo editing, listing descriptions, translations, accessibility tools — all fine. The human is doing the creative work; the AI is helping.
- AI as the creator of the dominant visible content is prohibited. Selling Midjourney output as art, AI-generated 3D models as handmade sculptures, AI-generated music as compositions — none of these belong on Hobbsy.
- The output medium doesn't matter. Whether the AI made an image, a 3D model, or an audio file, the rule is the same. Post-processing doesn't transform AI output into human work.
- Disclosure matters when buyer expectations are involved. Some allowed categories require transparency (AI-narrated audiobooks, generative art) so buyers can make informed choices. Disclosure is information, not stigma.
- We enforce what we can actually detect. Rules we can't enforce create dishonesty rather than protection. Where detection is impossible (e.g., CNC patterns burned into wood), we rely on the mass-production test rather than prohibition.
- Reports are reviewed by humans. The platform that protects human-made art will not use AI to judge what is and is not human-made.
A note on tone
We try to write these pages plainly. They are meant to be read by people who have never thought about AI policy before, by sellers worried about their livelihoods, and by buyers who want to know what they're paying for. If you find anything confusing, contact us and we'll try to do better.
The full internal policy document is more detailed than these pages and includes edge cases and reasoning. It is not currently published. We may publish it later once we are confident it can be read without being misunderstood.
Questions about AI policy? Email policy@hobbsy.shop