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San Diego Comic Con has quietly updated its policy to ban AI-generated art, 404 media reportsProviding a huge win for the artists.
This face is a welcome surprise. So far, the giant convention — which has become a melting pot of all kinds of pop entertainment beyond the comic medium, with everyone from game developers to film studios using it as a platform to tease new content — has allowed some AI art to be displayed, as long as it was labeled as such and was not for sale, as well as other conditions that are in place through at least 2024, according to 404.
in an interview with 404Carla Ortiz, an artist who works with major studios attending Comic Con, called the decision a “relief”.
“Generative AI is still going some way or the other in its dangerous ways,” he said, “but at least it is not something we should tacitly accept.” This is something we can actively speak out against.
Artists have been quite hostile towards AI since it became popular, as models were trained on reams of photos and artwork culled from the internet without permission or compensation.
But the past year has seen a particularly notable rise in anti-AI sentiment, which has now finally reached a boiling point in the Comic Con community.
When the convention posted its latest rules for its upcoming art show this July, artists and fans on social media criticized it for allowing AI images. Ortiz was among the vocal critics.
“Comic-(c) on the decision to allow GenAI imagery in art shows – giving valuable space to GenAI users to show off slop right next to the actual artists who worked hard to get there – is a disgrace!” he wrote in one Post highlighted by 404.
Amazingly, less than a day after the AI backlash began, the conference quietly updated its policy: “Content created by Artificial Intelligence (AI), either in part or in whole, is not allowed in art shows,” it said. now reads. It appears that it has kept its cards to itself, as it has not made any announcement regarding the change in policy.
This decision isn’t the only sign of opposition to AI in the world of comics and fans. DC Comics President Jim Lee swore off On maintaining human creativity and not supporting AI: “Not now, not ever,” Lee said last October. In August, another fan convention, GalaxyCon, installed A “comprehensive AI art ban”, its president said, would “fight against unethical AI companies.” The following month, a vendor was accused of selling AI art at Dragon Con shown by the police With the consent of the audience, the organizers demanded that the vendors leave.
Now, Comic Con’s reversal on this issue represents one of the biggest and most consequential changes in the comic and fandom world, and seems to be part of a much larger shift in the entertainment landscape. Last week, musicians were delighted when Bandcamp, a major music distribution platform backed by indie artists, also introduced an AI ban, banning any songs that were generated “wholly or in large part by AI.”
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