Artist sues AI meme generator for selling deeply personal comic as ad template
Artist Elmer Saflor, who goes by the online handle βSuperelmer,β loves that millions of people have shared his βRunning Away Balloonβ comic since it became a popular meme in 2017.
However, just because lots of people have copied it, that doesnβt mean itβs OK for an AI meme generator to commercialize his copyrighted meme as a template for who knows how many ads, he told Ars. Thatβs why heβs fighting to stop one of the biggest meme generators currently leveraging AI to rapidly scale the allegedly illegal use.
In a lawsuit filed earlier this month, Saflor, a digital creator and artist in the Philippines, alleged that Memes Apps, LCCβwhich operates the content creation platforms Memes.ai and Memes AI Studioβviolated copyright law by selling paid subscriptions to an ad generator that spits out copies of his comic without permission.


Β© via Saflor / Superelmer