- FanX in Salt Lake City banned AI-generated art, sparking mixed artist reactions.
- Artists Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti support the ban, citing copyright concerns.
- FanX organizers are confident reported artworks were human-made, despite AI-related worries.
SALT LAKE CITY — FanX Salt Lake Pop Culture and Comic Convention organizers requested this year that vendors refrain from bringing AI-generated art to the event. Some artists were thrilled to hear about the change, and others were indifferent.
Many of the thousands of people coming to FanX this weekend come for the art.
"Just walking around the convention floor, you get to see works of art that people are wearing," FanX Producer Dan Farr said.
Event organizers have new parameters around what can be sold; Farr said AI-generated merchandise is banned.
"We haven't noticed a problem at our shows before, but we had seen some other events where they had some issues with some people selling AI-generated art," he said.
Artists Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti support the new rule.
"AI is a tool. Some people are going to use it for great things. Other people are going to use it to shortcut or make money," Palmiotti said. They both work on comic books, film and TV, and worry about art getting ripped off.
"Generative AI is created by using, you know, learning the models of other artists. And then it's, in a way, a copyright issue," Farr said.
Conner and Palmiotti said that the big companies they work with, such as Marvel and DC Comics, block AI. They're glad FanX took that step.
"The convention is not going to suffer for it," Palmiotti said. "The public, it's not going to suffer for it."
Artists Chris and Holly Hawks use acrylic paint and watercolors to create their works.
"A lot of our contemporaries that are in digital creators, I mean, are totally freaking out (about AI), and I feel for them," Chris Hawks said.
He said he doesn't personally feel threatened by AI.
"I can generate all of this stuff on my own," he said.
As for policing what's AI and what's human-generated?
"Every artist here has an eye for it," Farr said.
Palmiotti said he can tell.
"AI sometimes adds an extra finger, or they put logos and they mess up the logos," he said.
He said there's a time and a place for AI, and FanX isn't it.
"It's actually stealing from the artist," Palmiotti said. "We love the idea of AI being where it should be applied, which is medical, and science and technology."
FanX organizers said they've had a few pieces of art that were reported to them with concern that there may be some AI input. They said they are confident every piece they've looked into was created by humans.
