Posted in: Comics, Conventions, Current News, Dragon Con, Events, Pop Culture | Tagged: ai, dragon con

Police Called On Artist Accused Of Selling A.I. Art At Dragon Con

This time, police were called on an artist accused of selling A.I. art, over the weekend at Dragon Con

Marvel Comics' Executive Editor Tom Brevoort might want to watch out! A vendor exhibiting under the name Oriana Gerez at Dragon Con in Atlanta this weekend, at booth A10, was asked to pack up their table, with police present, after they were accused of selling A.I. artwork as if it were their own.

Fellow vendor at Dragon Con, Dane of Monkey Minion, a particular favourite of Bleeding Cool EIC Kaitlyn Booth, posted the aftermath at the show the day after… shared here with permission. You can get a better shot of the packing up in RJ Palmer's photos. But this has been filling Facebook, BlueSky, Instagram and X since the weekend.

While their social media did not seem too apologetic, posting "I'd share a screenshot of my sales this weekend but don't have to show it give any explanations to you losers. You guys are sore because you don't sell sh*t and will be forever broke. Have fun being a broke bitch." Well… their instagram is now private. And the CV on their website has been removed. And the website includes artwork that certainly doesn't seem to be A.I. generated. Again, these are accusations, and there does seem to be some disconnect between the website and the work on display.

Dragon Con doesn't seem to have a clear A.I. policy on its website. But last year, Cedar Sanderson's cover for the novel Goblin Market was a 2024 Dragon Awards finalist in the Best Illustrative Book Cover category, but about five minutes after the ballot was listed, and people pointed out that it was A.I., it was gone. Dragon Con Co-Chair Dave Cody stated at the time, "we recognize the AI is a new tool with enormous potential and society will eventually come to a consensus about how it should be used and how much content can be can be created using AI while still crediting a human for the work, at which time, we will consider changing our policy. Until then, however, we want the Dragon Awards to offer fans an opportunity to recognize the humans who create the works that fans love best."

This also comes after the Bell Company had an artistic generative A.I. presence at Fan Expo Canada, which saw protests on the show floor. In that case the police were called… on the protestors. At Dragon Con, it seems to have been a different world.

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