Dragon Con, the massive fantasy and sci-fi convention held each Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, sparked controversy this year when organizers called police to expel an art vendor. The vendor was accused of selling AI-generated artwork.
From Bleeding Cool:
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.
Was Oriana Gerez Selling AI Generated Art?
It’s unclear to me whether or not Oriana Gerez was indeed selling art created by AI. Even if she was, so what? Contrary to what gets posted ad nauseam online, Dragon Con did not have a rule or policy against selling AI generated art. I’ve combed through the Dragon Con website I could not find a rule or policy about AI-generated art.
Wanting to leave no stone unturned, I decided to enlist the help of ChatGPT. Who better to find a policy against AI-generated art than AI?
This is what ChatGPT said:
Dragon Con’s official policies page (under About → Dragon Con Policies) outlines general convention rules—such as badge requirements, weapons policy, harassment, etc. But it currently does not mention AI-generated art or any related restrictions.
The Art Show and Artist Alley sections of the site outline participation guidelines and submission rules—like originality, merchandise limits, and subject matter—but make no explicit reference to AI-generated art.
In short: there is no publicly posted, explicit AI-art policy on the official Dragon Con website at this time.
I know before I said Dragon Con has a policy against selling AI-generated art, I would make damn sure such a policy actually existed. Obviously, a lot of people don’t have a similar reluctance about posting unsubstantiated, false information.
In Conclusion
People are stupid. The anti-AI-generated art zealots are proof of that. One of the common claims made by these zealots is that AI art is inferior and soulless. Because of this. it’s easy to identify. If that’s true, why then are they so aggressive towards people who supposedly create it? Oriana Gerez was only accused of selling AI art. If I was an artist, why would I want someone selling inferior art to get kicked out of Dragon Con? Unless my art was also inferior, my art would look better when it was compared to something inferior.
That doesn’t make sense.
I hope Oriana Gerez sues Dragon Con and the people aggressively and gleefully slandering her. If she starts a GoFundMe for her legal costs, I will donate to it.
Hey Rick. Enjoyed reading this article and would like to provide you with more details and a whole other angle on this story, as I’m the one in the photos of the booth.
Sure, share away. 🙂
I can’t confirm it, since I’m not an artist, but this page shows a screenshot of the artist/vendor contract, which prohibits AI art: https://file770.com/pixel-scroll-9-1-25-the-scroll-that-launched-a-thousand-pixels/
Do we even know if the art in question was in fact AI art?
Even if that is truly a section of the contract vendors had to agree to rent a space at Dragon Con, all of the original coverage about this incident said it was a policy, not a line item in a contract. It feels a bit like moving the goalposts. Not that I’m accusing you of that. 🙂
I honestly don’t understand the uproar some people engage it when it comes to AI art. Even the most vocal anti-AI art people say AI art is easily identifiable. If that is true, why not let the market sort it all out? People say it’s theft. In a roundabout way, sure. Human made art is used to train AI on different art styles. Human made art is also used to train human made artists. As far as theft is concerned, I’ve witnessed large amounts of IP theft at every single con I’ve ever attended. Hell, I’ve probably even bought some of it. We’ve already got laws against selling IP without the owner’s permission. Cons never enforce this kind of theft. There are no laws against selling A.I. art.
The reaction people had over Dragon Con kicking the vendor out had a lot of the same energy book ban people have when they get a book removed from a school library. Again, let the market decide. If people don’t like AI art, let them vote with their wallets.