Like Sarah Connor in The Terminator, San Diego Comedian-Con is preventing again towards AI. The celebrated, long-running popular culture conference has banned all paintings 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.
“Materials created by Synthetic Intelligence (AI) both partially or wholly, shouldn’t be 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.
Up to now, the conference allowed contributors to show AI paintings, offered it was clearly marked as such and wasn’t bought. However now, these artists cannot even convey it by the door. The rule change is a response to artist-led pushback, based on a 404 Media report. San Diego Comedian-Con is without doubt one of 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 e book collection, advised CNET he helps Comedian-Con’s resolution and hopes different conventions will observe their lead.
“A whole bunch of 1000’s of individuals attend San Diego Comedian-Con every year, and the joy that generates is not as a result of they’re keen to satisfy a pc spitting out homogenized slop,” Zub mentioned.
Zub, who’s additionally an artist, is scheduled to seem at Comedian-Con in 2026.
Entertaining AI
The usage of generative AI in comedian e book and popular culture artwork has generated controversy in recent times as AI applications have turn into extra expert at imitating creators.
A central focus of the 2023 actor’s strike concerned backlash towards the usage of AI in films and tv. The issue has continued to roil Hollywood, as actors, particular results designers, and different movie employees see the expertise as a menace, whereas some film studios view AI as a method to cut back manufacturing prices.
Netflix has already begun utilizing AI-generated imagery in at the very least one collection, Argentine sci-fi present El Eternauta. CEO Ted Sarandos praised the expertise throughout a 2025 earnings name.
“We stay satisfied that AI represents an unimaginable alternative to assist creators make movies and collection higher, not simply cheaper,” Sarandos mentioned on the time.
AI can be a problem in the video game industry, with publishers going through swift backlash every time followers uncover AI was utilized in a recreation. The Indie Recreation Awards rescinded two awards for the hit RPG, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, after they discovered that AI-made placeholder belongings have been included when the sport launched. The sport developer rapidly patched the belongings out.
Whereas the film and online game industries seem to have blended views on utilizing AI, Comedian-Con has taken a agency stance, at the very least for now.
“Artists, writers, actors and different creatives collect and have a good time the favored arts in particular person as a result of the folks a part of the equation is what issues most,” Zub mentioned.
