Colin Kaepernick is under fire, once again. But this time it’s from comics creators livid over the former NFL star launching a company called Lumi, which has raised $4 million and is at least in part powered by AI.
Lumi was announced back on July 24 via a press release from the company, which promoted that it was, “a groundbreaking platform that empowers creators by providing them with the tools needed to independently create, publish, and merchandise their stories both digitally and physically.”
However, the release quickly veers into explaining that Lumi is powered by AI. It gives the typical AI line that it’s there to help creators of course, stating, “By leveraging advanced AI tools, Lumi enhances the creative process, allowing creators to focus on bringing their stories to life, while the platform handles all of the logistics.”
But, and hopefully, this doesn’t need to be explained at this point: AI is theft. It repurposes and outright steals art from other artists. It also is not a shortcut to the creative process, and cannot even properly reproduce the style of the artists it’s stealing from without significant errors. Look no further than Francesco Mattina’s recent DC covers, which drew fire for AI generation and shoddy work, before subsequently being pulled by the publisher.
The news really bubbled to the surface, though, as Kaepernick tried to sell Lumi to artists, in Artists Alley, at San Diego Comic-Con. Multiple creators reportedly called him out face-to-face on the project, most notably Khary Randolph, who had met with Kaepernick prior to the convention.
Said Randolph on Facebook, “To be clear, I was one of a number of artists that had meetings with Colin a few months ago. He told me broadly what his AI platform was about. He mentioned that it was about removing ‘gatekeepers’ and how he wanted to benefit people from underserved walks of life. I told him that while I was a fan of his, I couldn’t support this because those ‘gatekeepers’ were people like me who had put our blood, sweat and tears into our craft. Hard work, a pencil, and paper is all you need to make comics. I let him that his product was going to hurt us longterm. So if anyone is asking whether Colin Kaepernick is aware of the misgivings artists have with AI, please believe that he has been made aware. And I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who did so.”
It’s an unfortunate turn for Kaepernick, who became a sort of folk hero due to his silent protests of the NFL. And the comics community is not responding well to this turn to AI, as reported by various outlets. Will people still use the “tools” available? Sure. Probably. But just know you’re stealing real artists’ work while you do.
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