Utah’s largest pop culture convention has taken a firm stance in the ongoing debate surrounding AI-generated art.
In a letter sent to artists and exhibitors last week, FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention announced it had updated its policy to prohibit AI-generated art and merchandise.
The update was partially in response to an incident that occurred at Dragon Con in Atlanta earlier this month, when an artist was asked to leave after violating the convention’s rules against selling AI-generated art.
“We’ve always been an aggregate of amazingly talented and creative people,” FanX founder Dan Farr told the Deseret News. “AI’s here to stay. We’ll have to kind of figure out and evolve our plan around it as we get further down the road. But right now, the decision has been made to really feature and focus on the artists that are creating original artwork.”
Farr said that while FanX hasn’t had issues with AI-generated art or merchandise in the past, they wanted to be proactive with their policies.
As of Sept. 5, Farr said only one vendor had dropped out of the convention, although he wasn’t sure whether it was due to the updated AI policy or a separate conflict for that vendor.
What are fans and vendors saying about FanX’s AI art ban?
The announcement has largely been met with praise from both vendors and attendees who have spoken out on social media.
Painted Dragon Studios, run by artists Aaron and Shannon Long, applauded the move in a Facebook post and shared the negative effects AI-generated art has had on their own business.
“So glad we won’t have to worry about being neighbors with another booth full of AI stuff,” the post reads. “The booth across from me at ATL Comic Convention back in July was selling AI generated dragons on canvas prints for next to nothing. Made it soooooo difficult to get any interest in my art as I was charging my normal rates for most of the weekend. I ended up having to drop my prices by a lot just to barely hope to break even on the booth fee.”
Robert Bruno, a commercial illustrator and featured vendor at this year’s FanX, also supported FanX’s update. He told the Deseret News that exhibiting at conventions represents a serious investment of time, effort and money for artists.
“We’ve spent years and years working on the craft so that we can make a living off of it,” Bruno said. “So to see somebody just kind of click a button in a program, rip off one of our existing styles or pieces, it’s incredibly frustrating. And illegal.”
What happened at Dragon Con?
The topic of AI art at fan conventions garnered renewed interest on Sept. 1, when an artist was asked to leave Dragon Con for selling work that had been created with AI tools.
In a statement provided to the Deseret News, Dragon Con organizers stated that all its vendors and artists — including the artist who was asked to leave the convention — had signed contracts agreeing not to sell AI-generated art.
“In the case involving O.G. Art, after her use of AI was brought to the convention’s attention, we asked the artist to provide videos and other materials demonstrating her process,” the statement reads. “These materials clearly showed that she had used AI to create the works offered for sale at Dragon Con.”
The use of AI in the creation of original works has been prohibited since before Dragon Con’s 2024 convention. That year, the convention removed an entry from its art awards consideration because AI tools had been used to create it.
“We understand that AI is a new tool with enormous potential, and that society will eventually reach a consensus on how it should be used in creating original works of art,” Dragon Con’s statement reads. “Until then, Dragon Con will focus its efforts on recognizing the best in human imagination and the skill artists use to translate their vision to paper or canvas.”
What are the problems with AI art?
Farr addressed a few concerns with selling AI-generated products. The main issue is that because AI programs are trained from preexisting art, AI-generated art raises concerns about copyright and plagiarism.
Bruno echoed this concern.
“The only reason that the AI programs are able to generate the type of images that you’re seeing is because they’re stealing styles and examples from existing projects and existing artists,” Bruno said. “So the whole base for their model is pretty fraudulent.”
Farr also noted that people who buy AI art without realizing may later feel that they did not get their money’s worth for their purchase. He also wanted to avoid potentially uncomfortable situations — he said the artistic community is generally not very accepting of AI art, and having a firm policy would avoid a potential witch hunt.
“We’ll focus on the positive aspects of the convention. We have so many amazing things happening this year. A lot of great celebrity guests coming, the amazing vendor list, a lot of really fun panels … It’s gonna be an amazing event, and so hopefully the focus isn’t gonna be on whether somebody used AI.”
Proponents of AI art argue that it opens doors for people who are not usually creative or who lack artistic skills. It’s also cheaper and faster than commissioning a human artist.
But beyond the questionable origins of AI art, there are a plethora of additional concerns.
For instance, while AI programs may be free to use, there is still a cost in water and energy. Data centers — including ones here in Utah — can challenge electricity needs, and could use 7 billion gallons of water annually to cool their servers.
How can you tell if artwork was made with AI?
Bruno said there are some classic “tells” for AI art.
“Any artist is gonna be able to spot inaccuracies with anatomy or just basic things with lighting and shading,” he said.
However, as Farr noted, FanX’s update is still difficult to enforce. He said software that aims to detect AI art — software that uses artificial intelligence itself — is often wrong.
So the hope here is that artists will follow the honor code, and Farr said that if there are concerns about anything shown at the convention, they will investigate issues as they arise and ask artists to show their process.
“We’re going to continue to evolve with it and make sure that we’re looking out for the creative people that have helped to build the show,” Farr said.
Keeping the human element in art
“I don’t know why we would want to remove the artists from art,” Bruno said. “I think that’s a pretty pivotal role in the process, for both commercial work and even fine art at museums. … I don’t know why you’d want to ever remove the human element from that.”
This call for the human element of art has been echoed by artists and art enthusiasts around the globe.
“There really is something in how AI art cant get human hands right vs. some of the oldest art we have is our handprints on a wall,” one popular Tumblr post reads.
According to Bruno, this desire for innately human art is starting to swing the pendulum away from AI-generated art. He said he and his fellow artists have been getting more work lately, and he hopes it represents a more permanent support of human artists.
“I kind of say this with a little bit of hesitancy, but I think we’re headed back to the right direction.”