Disney faces backlash for alleged AI-generated Loki poster
Multiple professional designers have accused Disney of using an AI-generated image in a poster of the second season of the Loki TV show, The Verge reports.
The issue was first flagged on Twitter/X by author and illustrator Katria Raden in early October.
Raden took issue with Disney allegedly using an AI-generated image instead of paying for a licensed photo or illustration by a human creator.
“I don’t think replacing them with generated imagery via tech built on mass exploitation and wage theft is any more ethical than replacing Disney’s own employees,” Raden said.
The poster in question features a clock in the background that appears identical to a stock image on Shutterstock.
To Disney’s credit, the image is not labelled as AI-generated by Shutterstock, even though it shows tell-tale signs of this being the case.
The clock’s characters include inconsistencies in line weights and distorted or fading text.
Software engineer Angel Aguayo (who goes by “The Poke Flutist“) also ran the image through four AI image checkers and found that three said AI created it.
The image is licensed on Shutterstock, even though the platform only allows licensing of AI-generated images created with its own tools.
However, Shutterstock does not label the image as AI-generated, suggesting it might have been created offsite and bypassed Shutterstock’s AI flagging systems.
A handful of Twitter/X users have suggested that other parts of the image — primarily the oddly-shaped miniature characters around Loki’s head — might also have been created using AI.
Disney recently also faced backlash for using AI to create the opening credits for its Marvel Secret Invasion series instead of paying animators for the intro.
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