SMOF News, volume 2, issue 16

AI art banned from Supanova, and news in brief.

Supanova Bans AI Art

Supanova Comic Con & Gaming, the company behind multiple events around Australia, is the first convention to be spotted taking an official stand on the subject of AI-generated art. Its announcement reads in part:

As a company that was developed in no small part from a love of comic books, Supanova Comic Con & Gaming has the utmost respect for visual artists and strives to support them in whatever way we can. As such, we will henceforth be prohibiting the sale of AI-generated artwork that has been created using sourced content that the seller does not hold the legal rights to, at all our events.

As with other recent pronouncements about AI in other arenas, the issue is not so much computers replacing humans as the computers having been trained on copyrighted art scraped from wherever it can be found on the internet.

Supanova’s terms and conditions for exhibitors now include:

36. AI-generated artwork that has been created using sourced content the Exhibitor does not hold the legal rights to is considered unlicensed material and is not permitted for sale at Supanova Comic Con & Gaming. It is the responsibility of the Exhibitor to provide evidence of their right to utilise others' artwork in their creations should their stand be flagged for inspection.

The big question in policing art at conventions is how to even tell it was AI-generated. Tips and tools abound online for distinguishing realistic AI-generated digital images from genuine photographs, but physical art is harder to evaluate. Weird blobs appearing where you would expect text in the background is a good tell in a fake photo, for instance, but hardly a way to disqualify art. Supanova’s answer is that everyone must provide affirmative proof of their art’s provenance, potentially placing a lot of work on every honest vendor.

In Brief

• Voting for the 2023 Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund, to select a European candidate to visit North America around the time of the 2023 NASFiC (July 20-23, Winnipeg, Manitoba) is open through April 11. The candidates are Sandra Bond and Mikołaj Kowalewski. Online ballot • PDF ballot

Event Calendar

Weekend of December 23-25

• EOY J-Culture Festival 2022 (anime), Singapore

Weekend of December 30-January 1

• Furvester 4: Mission to Mars (anthropomorphic), Reutlingen, Germany

• Painted Desert Fur Con: The Island: Pirates! (anthropomorphic), Phoenix, Arizona, USA

• New Year’s Furry Ball, Newark, Delaware, USA

• OKiCon (anime), Norman, Oklahoma, USA

• Comic Market 101 (amateur comics), Tokyo, Japan

Weekend of January 6-8

• Shadowcon (relaxacon), Memphis, Tennessee, USA

• GAFilk 2023 (music), Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• Anthro Northwest 5 (anthropomorphic), Seattle, Washington, USA

• CanthroFur (anthropomorphic), Auvergne, France

• Spartacon XXXII (gaming), DeWitt, Michigan, USA

• Super MAGFest (gaming/videogame music), National Harbor, Maryland, USA

• OrcaCon 2023 (gaming), Bellevue, Washington, USA

• Animé Los Angeles 18, Long Beach, California, USA

• SacAnime, Sacramento, California, USA

• Columbia Anime & Video Game Expo, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

• Taiyou Con (anime), Mesa, Arizona, USA

• Anime-ZAP!, East Peoria, Illinois, USA

• Fan Expo New Orleans (media), New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

• St. Pete Comic Con 2023, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

Weekend of January 13-15

• Chattacon XLVIII, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA

• Na Meji Nevidnega, Ljubljana, Slovenia

• GenghisCon, Wembley, Australia

• MarsCon 2023, Norfolk, Virginia, USA

• Further Confusion 2023: Millennium Edition (anthropomorphic), San Jose, California, USA

• MidWinterFrolic 2023 (anthropomorphic), Altura, Minnesota, USA

• SnowCon: Lucky 13 (gaming), Orono, Maine, USA

• HexaCon (gaming), Broomfield, Colorado, USA

• Midwinter Gaming Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

• Geekway Mini: League of Meeples (gaming), St. Louis, Missouri, USA

• Congress of Gamers Winter Session, Rockville, Maryland, USA

• SCARAB 2023 (gaming), Columbia, South Carolina, USA

• Siege of Augusta XXXI (miniatures gaming), Augusta, Georgia, USA

• SaltCON Bryce (boardgames), Bryce Canyon, Utah, USA

• Ichibancon 13 (anime), Concord, North Carolina, USA

• Anime Impulse, Pomona, California, USA

• OtakuFest (anime), Miami, Florida, USA

• Setsucon (anime), Altoona, Pennsylvania, USA

• Wildwood Comic Con, Wildwood, New Jersey, USA

Weekend of January 20-22

• Avatar: The Legend of ConFusion, Novi, Michigan, USA

• Arisia 2023, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

• COSine 2023, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

• Anthro New England 2023: Trains!, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

• KapCon 31 (gaming), Wellington, New Zealand

• Ice & Dice (gaming), Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

• ATG Expo (gaming), Waco, Texas, USA

• Evercon 23 (gaming), Rothschild, Wisconsin, USA

• Contingency 2023 (gaming), Hunstanton, UK

• Cancon 2023 (gaming), Canberra, Australia

• Niagara Boardgaming Weekend, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

• Ohayocon 23 (anime), Columbus, Ohio, USA

• Ikkicon (anime), Round Rock, Texas, USA

• Orlando Anime Day, Orlando, Florida, USA

• Central Florida Comic Con, Lakeland, Florida, USA

• CONsole Room: 10 Years in the TARDIS (Doctor Who), Bloomington, Minnesota, USA

• House of Mouse Expo (Disney-owned media), Kissimmee, Florida, USA

Coda

• Original tomb of St. Nicholas found (Smithsonian Magazine)

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