DC Comics is drawing a line in the sand against artificial intelligence. President and publisher Jim Lee declared at New York Comic Con that the company will never use AI-generated storytelling or artwork, making DC one of the first major entertainment companies to take such a definitive anti-AI stance. The move comes as creative industries grapple with AI's rapid advancement and growing concerns about job displacement.
The comic book industry just got its most definitive statement yet on artificial intelligence. DC Comics president and publisher Jim Lee didn't mince words at New York Comic Con Wednesday, telling fans that his company "will not support AI-generated storytelling or artwork" under any circumstances. "Not now, not ever, as long as [SVP, general manager] Anne DePies and I are in charge," Lee declared during his panel.
The announcement lands as creative industries wrestle with generative AI's explosive growth and mounting fears about job displacement. Lee's comparison of AI concerns to "the Millennium bug scare and NFT hype" suggests he sees the current panic as overblown, but his company's stance is anything but casual.
"People have an instinctive reaction to what feels authentic. We recoil from what feels fake. That's why human creativity matters," Lee explained to the Comic Con audience. His most pointed critique targeted AI's fundamental nature: "AI doesn't dream. It doesn't feel. It doesn't make art. It aggregates it."
This isn't just philosophical positioning - it's damage control. DC has stumbled through several embarrassing AI scandals recently, with variant comic book covers suspected of using generative AI sparking fierce backlash from fans and artists. The company was forced to pull and replace multiple covers after accusations surfaced.
While DC has maintained a longstanding policy requiring original, authentically produced artwork, the recent controversies exposed gaps in enforcement. Artist communities, already anxious about AI tools potentially replacing human creators, seized on these incidents as evidence of corporate cost-cutting at creativity's expense.
Lee's response attempts to reframe the debate around brand authenticity rather than just employment concerns. "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," he said. "But Superman only feels right when he's in the DC universe. Our universe, our mythos. That's what endures."
