Bravo! Backlash against AI convinces San Diego Comic Con to ban it completely from their art show

[highplainsdem]

Second piece of good news about AI today. First was Bandcamp banning music made with AI: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143598784

Where matters stood originally with San Diego Comic Con:

https://www.comicsbeat.com/sdcc-ai-art-show/

San Diego Comic-Con under fire for allowing AI at 2026’s Art Show
The convention's organizers stated AI-generated pieces may be displayed but not sold at this year's Art Show.

By Christopher Chiu-Tabet -01/14/2026

Comic Con International, the organization behind the storied San Diego Comic-Con, has come under criticism for allowing AI-generated pieces to be exhibited at this year’s Art Show. Their website states AI pieces can be displayed, but not sold at the auction, which will be held during this year’s convention from Thursday, July 23, to Sunday, July 26.

According to the official guidance from the show, here’s the rule:
Material produced by Artificial Intelligence (AI) may be placed in the show, but only as Not-for-Sale (NFS). It must be clearly marked as AI-produced, not simply listed as a print. If one of the parameters in its creation was something similar to “Done in the style of ,” that information must be added to the description. If there are questions, the Art Show Coordinator will be the sole judge of acceptability.

Unsurprisingly, comics industry professionals are less than impressed, and many have taken to social media to voice their frustration with the policy.

Artist Karla Ortiz responded, “Comic-Con should be a celebration of illustrators, comic artists, writers and so on. Elevating the actual craftsmen and women who make the works that fans love! Instead it opens the door to slop that can only exist due to the stolen work of those same creatives, to then displace creatives. Gross!” She implored fans to share their objections to the Art Show coordinator’s email address, artshow[at]comic-con[dot]org, or via their social media.

-snip-

And now, after that backlash:

San Diego Comic-Con will no longer allow AI 'art' to be displayed at their event

"Material created by AI either partially or wholly, is not allowed in the art show"

This follows backlash from artists after SDCC initially indicated AI-generated work would be permitted

— Culture Crave 🍿 (@culturecrave.co) 2026-01-14T22:45:13.232Z

Comment on this from science fiction writer John Scalzi:

It's genuinely confusing why, over and over again, organizations that cater to, or are dependent upon, artists writers and creators decide to absolutely fucking enrage their constituency with "AI," only to be required to backtrack after considerable loss of goodwill

— John Scalzi (@scalzi.com) 2026-01-14T23:55:23.601Z

Left is what it originally said, right is what it says now

Website was quietly updated overnight

h/t @kortizart.bsky.social

www.comic-con.org/cc/things-to...

— Culture Crave 🍿 (@culturecrave.co) 2026-01-14T22:47:05.119Z

[SheltieLover]

1. Excellent!

[mucholderthandirt]

2. It's not enough. Not nearly enough. Should be banned altogether.

If some moron wants to buy it, all they have to do is set it up with the moron that put it up. Not that hard to do, and it lets Comic Con look like they're doing something to protect creatives. Which they are not. Creative people are suffering over this "AI" nonsense, in all fields, art and writing especially.

And no, "AI" is not just a fucking tool. It's theft and cheating.

[highplainsdem]

3. That Comic Con is banning it completely. The display-but-can't-sell rule was the initial plan, which

was scrapped after protests.

One of the Bluesky posts above, with images of the original rules and what they were changed to.

Left is what it originally said, right is what it says now

Website was quietly updated overnight

h/t @kortizart.bsky.social

www.comic-con.org/cc/things-to...

— Culture Crave 🍿 (@culturecrave.co) 2026-01-14T22:47:05.119Z

[highplainsdem]

4. Article about this from 404 Media and Futurism:

https://www.404media.co/comic-con-bans-ai-art-after-artist-pushback/

According to Ortiz, the convention is a sacred place she didn’t want to see desecrated by AI. “Comic-Con is the big mecca for comic artists, illustrators, and writers,” she said. “I organize and speak with a lot of different artists on the generative AI issue. It’s something that impacts us and impacts our lives. A lot of us have decided: ‘No, we’re not going to sit by the sidelines.’”

Oritz explained that generative AI was already impacting the livelihood of working artists. She said that, in the past, artists could sustain themselves on long projects for companies that included storyboarding and design. “Suddenly the duration of projects are cut,” she said. “They got generative AI to generate a bunch of references, a bunch of boards. ‘We already did the initial ideation, so just paint this. Paint what generative AI has generated for us.’”

Ortiz pointed to two high profile examples: Marvel using AI to make the title sequence for Secret Invasion and Coca-Cola using AI to make Christmas commercials. “You have this encroaching exploitative technology impacting almost every single level of the entertainment industry, whether you’re a writer, or a voice actor, or a musician, a painter, a concept artist, an illustrator. It doesn’t matter…and then to have Comic-Con, that place that’s supposed to be a gathering and a celebration of said creatives and their work, suddenly put on a pedestal the exploitative technology that only functions because of its training on our works? It’s upsetting beyond belief.”

“What is Comic-Con trying to tell the industry?” She said, “It’s telling artists: ‘Hey you, you’re exploitable and you’re replaceable.’”

From Futurism:

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/comic-con-ai-art

In an interview with 404, Karla Ortiz, an artist who’s worked with major studios that attend Comic Con, called the decision a “relief.”

“Generative AI is still going to creep its nasty way in some way or another,” she said, “but at least it’s not something we have to take lying down. It’s something we can actively speak out against.”

-snip-

The decision isn’t the only sign of resistance to AI in the world of comics and fandoms. President of DC Comics Jim Lee vowed to uphold human creativity and not support AI: “Not now, not ever,” Lee said last October. In August, another fandom convention, GalaxyCon, instituted a “sweeping AI art ban,” with its president saying it would “fight against unethical AI companies.” The following month, a vendor accused of selling AI art at Dragon Con was shown out by cops after organizers, with onlookers’ approval, demanded that the vendor leave.

Now, Comic Con’s reversal on the issue represents one of the biggest and most consequential shifts in the comic and fandom worlds, and seems to be part of a much greater turning tide sweeping across the entertainment landscape. Last week, musicians rejoiced when Bandcamp, a major music distribution platform favored by indie artists, also instituted an AI ban, prohibiting any songs that generated “wholly or in substantial part by AI.”