DC Comics won’t support generative AI: ‘not now, not ever’

DC Comics president and publisher Jim Lee said that the company “will not support AI-generated storytelling or artwork,” assuring fans that its future will remain rooted in human creativity. “Not now, not ever, as long as [SVP, general manager] Anne DePies and I are in charge,” Lee said during his panel at New York Comic Con on Wednesday, likening 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,” said Lee. “AI doesn’t dream. It doesn’t feel. It doesn’t make art. It aggregates it.”

While DC has a longstanding policy that requires all artwork to be original and authentically produced by artists, the company has faced several scandals over the suspected use of generative AI in variant comic book covers. Backlash from people who oppose the technology over concerns that it will replace the work of writers and artists pressured DC to replace the suspected covers, and likely contributed to the company taking a firmer stance against using generative AI in future projects.

“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,” said Lee. “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.”