LightBox Expo's founders: 'We think generative AI is theft and it's not real art'

LightBox Expo bans text-to-image work from display and sale and calls generative AI theft, but its written rule permits image upscalers and names no way to detect AI work.

LightBox Expo opens at the Pasadena Convention Center on 23 October with a rule that nothing made with text-to-image tools can be shown or sold there. Co-founder Jim Demonakos put it more bluntly in a Cartoon Brew interview on Wednesday: "we don't think there's anything wrong with saying that we think generative AI is theft and it's not real art."

The written policy is more practical than the quote. It bans products made with generative tools, permits "spell checkers, image upscalers, basic photo filters and/or accessibility tools" as long as the core process stays human-driven, and lets organizers remove work or disqualify an exhibitor. It names no detection method, and it never says whether a machine-learning upscaler counts, which is the gray zone plenty of illustrators already work in. Emerald City Comic Con and the San Diego Comic-Con Art Show ban AI work for sale too, so the substance is common and the vocabulary is what stands out.

In practice, the artist-convention circuit is closed to generated work for sale. If you want the studio recruiters who walk Artist Alley, bring human-made boards, designs and paintovers as their own portfolio, and save generated finals for the rooms that want them, such as AI film festivals.

Source: Cartoon Brew interview by Carlos Aguilar, 30 Sep 2026; lightboxexpo.com AI Policy, read 1 Oct 2026.