Like Sarah Connor in The Terminator, San Diego Comedian-Con is preventing again in opposition to AI. The distinguished, long-running popular culture conference has banned all art work created by synthetic intelligence from the 2026 Comedian-Con artwork present. Rules posted on the Comedian-Con web site now state that AI-generated artwork will not be proven in any kind.Â
“Materials created by Synthetic Intelligence (AI) both partially or wholly, just isn’t allowed within the artwork present. If there are questions, the Artwork Present Coordinator would be the sole decide of acceptability,” the web site reads.
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A consultant for San Diego Comedian-Con didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.Â
Up to now, the conference allowed members to show AI art work, offered it was clearly marked as such and wasn’t bought. However now, these artists cannot even convey it via the door. The rule change is a response to artist-led pushback, based on a 404 Media report. San Diego Comedian-Con is among the world’s most well-known popular culture conventions, uniting comics, films, tv, gaming, cosplay and collectibles.
Jim Zub, author for the Conan the Barbarian and Dungeons and Dragons comedian ebook sequence, instructed CNET he helps Comedian-Con’s resolution and hopes different conventions will observe their lead.
“A whole bunch of hundreds of individuals attend San Diego Comedian-Con annually, and the thrill that generates is not as a result of they’re keen to fulfill a pc spitting out homogenized slop,” Zub mentioned.Â
Zub, who’s additionally an artist, is scheduled to look at Comedian-Con in 2026.
Entertaining AI
The usage of generative AI in comedian ebook and popular culture artwork has generated controversy lately as AI packages have turn into extra expert at imitating creators.Â
A central focus of the 2023 actor’s strike concerned backlash in opposition to using AI in films and tv. The issue has continued to roil Hollywood, as actors, particular results designers, and different movie staff see the know-how as a risk, whereas some film studios view AI as a solution to cut back manufacturing prices.Â
Netflix has already begun utilizing AI-generated imagery in a minimum of one sequence, Argentine sci-fi present El Eternauta. CEO Ted Sarandos praised the know-how throughout a 2025 earnings name.Â
“We stay satisfied that AI represents an unimaginable alternative to assist creators make movies and sequence higher, not simply cheaper,” Sarandos mentioned on the time.Â
AI can be a problem in the video game industry, with publishers dealing with swift backlash each time followers uncover AI was utilized in a recreation. The Indie Sport Awards rescinded two awards for the hit RPG, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, after they discovered that AI-made placeholder belongings had been included when the sport launched. The sport developer shortly patched the belongings out.Â
Whereas the film and online game industries seem to have combined views on utilizing AI, Comedian-Con has taken a agency stance, a minimum of for now.Â
“Artists, writers, actors and different creatives collect and rejoice the favored arts in individual as a result of the folks a part of the equation is what issues most,” Zub mentioned.
