AI & Ethics

Why this statement exists

In November 2026 an audit of this catalog found that 31 of its 54 Sketchfab entries pointed to models that could not be found at the address given. Several of the dead links carried identifiers with repeating digit runs, a pattern genuine Sketchfab identifiers do not show. Several live entries had also been retitled to fit the Shōwa frame. An American Zenith console appeared as a Japanese household radio, and a set of Western glassware as sake bottles. The catalog's first version, published in December 2025, was adapted from the fieldwork and corpus-building of Katherine Strachan and Adam Kay, whose contributions are recorded on the Acknowledgments page. Since December 2025 the catalog has been maintained with Anthropic's Claude tools. The audit could not establish when each faulty record entered the catalog, but the faults are the kind AI tools produce, a plausible record with no listing behind it. The entries that could not be confirmed now sit in a public quarantine register, and the rules below govern every entry from November 2026 onward.

Records come from listings

Every field that describes a listing, its title, creator, licence, thumbnail and polygon count, is copied from the listing itself, through the Sketchfab API or by reading the marketplace page. Each record carries the date it was checked and the method used. AI tools may help to find candidate listings and to write the archive's code. They supply no field in the catalog. A weekly check confirms that each Sketchfab model still exists under the title and creator recorded, and it opens a public issue when one does not.

Judgement stays with the curator

Whether an object fits a period, what it can tell a student, and how it should be described are curatorial judgements. Each record's historical fit starts as "not yet assessed" and changes only when the curator sets it. Where a listing contradicts the catalog's framing, the record says so in a review note shown on the catalog page. The record for a Flottmann rock drill from German coal mining, entered in 2025 as Shōwa mining equipment, now carries such a note. Historical notes drafted with AI assistance are checked against the listing and against published scholarship before they appear.

Creators and licences

The archive links to listings and never copies or redistributes model files. Creators are credited as the listing names them, because a Creative Commons attribution licence requires it and because the people who made these models did the work. Licences are recorded as each listing states them, from CC BY to commercial marketplace terms and view-only models, and anyone planning to use a model should read the listing first. Some CGTrader licences now forbid the use of a model to train AI systems; the archive records that term where it appears. The archive does not use listed models, or its own records of them, to train AI systems.

Generated and reconstructed models

A model generated by AI may be listed only when its listing says so, and the catalog record will say so too. The archive's own captures use photogrammetry, through Epic Games' RealityScan app among other tools. A photogrammetric scan of a surviving object, a reconstruction from documents and a generated model are different kinds of evidence. Students who work with them need to know which kind they hold.

Representation

Shōwa material culture circulates widely in games and virtual worlds, often as nostalgia for a prosperous and orderly past. The archive's lesson plans ask students to name what a model leaves out, and the catalog applies the same discipline to itself. Hashima, where Korean and Chinese workers were mobilised for wartime coal mining, carries a history that a model of its buildings cannot show, and records for sites of that kind will name it.

Corrections

Errors can be reported through the repository's issue tracker or by email to christopher.gerteis@soas.ac.uk. Each correction is logged in the changelog with its date and the evidence for it.