Generative AI remains a lightning rod in the arts, with directors and producers often fumbling their stance and sparking backlash when they stop short of denouncing it. On the flip side, fans have grown wary of new releases, frequently scrutinizing for signs of generative AI involvement and feeling deflated whenever it does rear its head. DC Comics president Jim Lee has come forward to reassure fans the company doesn’t—and won’t—use it.
According to The Verge, Lee gave these remarks while speaking at a retailer’s day panel at New York Comic Con. During the panel, Lee remarked on projections for fads and conspiracies that would affect retail, such as NFTs and Y2K, but never materialized in a meaningful way. He then rebuffed, declaring that AI would not either.
“History has a way of humbling predictions. The future rarely turns out the way the headlines warn us it will. But let me make one prediction I know I can stand by today: DC Comics will not support AI-generated storytelling or artwork—not now, not ever, as long as Anne De Pies and I are in charge,” Lee said, in reference to DC Comics’ senior vice president and general manager.
Lee expanded upon his declaration, saying what DC Comics does is rooted in humanity.
“It’s that fragile, beautiful connection between imagination and emotion that fuels our media. The stuff that makes our universe come alive,” he said. “It’s the imperfect mind, the creative risk, the hand-drawn gesture that no algorithm can replicate.”
He continued: “When I draw, I make mistakes. A lot of them. But that’s the point. The smudge, the rough lines, the hesitation—that’s me in the work. That’s my journey. That’s what makes it come alive.
Lee then went on to address fans’ “instinctive reaction” to authenticity and, inversely, folks recoiling at generative AI work simply because it is fake and devoid of human creativity.
“AI doesn’t dream. It doesn’t feel. It doesn’t make art. It aggregates it,” Lee said.
Lee’s words come downwind of the comic book industry putting its foot down on its stance on generative AI. Key among them is Dark Horse Comics, which, last year, released a statement saying it does not support the use of AI-generated material and instead supports the “human creative professionals.”
As The Verge notes, Lee’s stance on AI follows scandals involving the company, where variant comic book covers were suspected of using generative AI. As The Verge posits, these scandals likely led DC Comics, through Lee, to firmly establish its stance on generative AI from hereon out. Now, if only the rest of the industry could wise up to this refrain instead of flirting with generative AI as some creative albatross that’s here to stay.