DC Comics president and publisher Jim Lee said the company will not support AI-generated storytelling or artwork, assuring fans that its future will remain rooted in human creativity.
Lee made the statement during his panel at New York Comic Con on Wednesday, reports The Verge.
“Not now, not ever, as long as [SVP, general manager] Anne DePies and I are in charge,” Lee said.
Lee likened concerns around AI dominating future creative industries to the Millennium bug scare and NFT hype.
“People have an instinctive reaction to what feels authentic. We recoil from what feels fake. That’s why human creativity matters,” Lee said.
Lee added that AI lacks the essential qualities needed for genuine artistic creation.
“AI doesn’t dream. It doesn’t feel. It doesn’t make art. It aggregates it,” he said.
Whilst DC has a longstanding policy requiring all artwork to be original and authentically produced by artists, the company has faced several scandals over suspected use of generative AI in variant comic book covers. Backlash from people who oppose the technology over concerns it will replace writers and artists pressured DC to replace the suspected covers.
“Anyone can draw a cape. Anyone can write a hero. That’s been around as long as comics have been. It’s called fanfiction, and there’s nothing wrong with fanfiction,” Lee said. “But Superman only feels right when he’s in the DC universe. Our universe, our mythos. That’s what endures. That’s what will carry us into the next century.”
