Our stance on AI
AI & Art Policy
HECK supports human creativity, pays artists for their work, and is transparent about the limited role AI plays in building our website.
Last updated September 15, 2026
The short version
- No image featured on this website is generated by AI.
- All art is sourced from paid human artists who commit to AI-free creation workflows.
- The website is coded in PHP with a MySQL backend.
- AI tools may aid the coding process, but people remain responsible for the site.
- AI is not required to serve or display ordinary website pages.
Our art is human-made
We do not use AI image generation for any of the images featured on this website. All art is sourced from paid artists.
That commitment applies throughout the site, including promotional artwork, event graphics, illustrations, and the visual work that helps give HECK its identity.
Our paid-art standard: Every artist whose work HECK has paid for has committed that they did not use AI tools anywhere in their creation workflow.
AI assists our development
This website is coded in PHP with a MySQL backend. We do use AI tools to aid in coding and maintaining the site.
We view that as development assistance: AI can help a person explore an approach, draft code, investigate a problem, or improve documentation and tests.
Where we draw the line
We believe AI can be useful for website development without replacing the artists whose work gives HECK its visual identity. AI may assist our code; it does not generate the art or imagery featured here.
Working with artists
The artwork featured on this website is sourced from artists who are paid for their work and who commit to an AI-free creation workflow.
This means AI tools are not used at any stage to develop concepts, generate references, create, alter, complete, or upscale the paid artwork. Every artist whose work HECK has paid for has made this commitment, and it remains our standard for future paid art.
If you are interested in supporting HECK as a volunteer artist, we would be happy to hear from you. Email directors@heckink.com to start a conversation about volunteer opportunities. Volunteering is separate from the paid artwork currently featured on the site.
Our guiding principles
Our approach is built around three simple ideas:
- Support human creativity. Artists deserve recognition and compensation for the work that shapes our community and our public identity.
- Be transparent. We want visitors to know where AI is and is not part of this website.
- Keep people accountable. AI is a tool, not a decision-maker or a substitute for human responsibility.
What AI may help with
During development and maintenance, AI tools may be used to assist with tasks such as:
- brainstorming implementation approaches and explaining technical options;
- drafting or revising PHP, SQL, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript;
- finding bugs and suggesting accessibility, security, or performance improvements; and
- helping write tests, documentation, and maintenance notes.
These tools support the coding process. They do not change the fact that the website itself runs on PHP and MySQL.
How the website works
HECK is a custom-built web application rather than an AI-generated website or a collection of pages produced by a site builder. Its main technical components are:
- Application
- PHP runs on the server and produces the pages sent to a visitor's browser.
- Data
- MySQL stores site content and operational data. PHP communicates with it through PDO, including prepared database queries.
- Front end
- HTML provides page structure, custom CSS controls presentation, and JavaScript adds interactive behavior in the browser.
- Website email features use PHPMailer, an established open-source PHP library.
- Connected features
- Purpose-built JSON endpoints support dynamic schedule features, and dedicated services provide optional Discord integration.
- Delivery
- The source is version-controlled with Git and deployed through an automated GitHub Actions workflow to an Apache web server.
What AI does not replace
AI does not replace the artists who create work for HECK, and AI-generated imagery is not used as a shortcut around hiring or paying an artist. Artists providing paid work commit that AI is not part of their creation workflow.
AI assistance also does not remove human responsibility for the website. Community standards, event policies, safety practices, consent expectations, and organizational decisions belong to people, not to a software tool.
Human oversight and accountability
AI-generated code suggestions can be incomplete, inaccurate, or simply wrong. A suggestion is not treated as correct just because an AI tool produced it.
People remain responsible for deciding what belongs on the site, reviewing changes, testing behavior, correcting problems, and maintaining the finished work. The responsibility for anything published on heckink.com remains with HECK.
Scope of this policy
This policy covers the images and artwork featured on this website, volunteer artist interest, the technology used to run the site, and the use of AI tools during website development. It is intended to make the distinction between AI-generated creative work and AI-assisted coding easy to understand.
- AI-generated imagery
- Visual material created in whole or in part with a generative image system. HECK does not use this for images featured on the website.
- AI-assisted coding
- Using an AI tool to suggest, explain, analyze, or help revise code while a person remains responsible for the work and its outcome.
- AI-free creation workflow
- For paid artwork, the artist does not use AI tools during concept development, reference generation, creation, alteration, completion, upscaling, or finishing.
Questions, corrections, and updates
Technology and our website will continue to evolve. If our use of AI changes in a meaningful way, we will update this page so our public explanation remains accurate.
If you have a question about this policy please email help@heckink.com.