You’ve seen this cartoon before, right? An anthropomorphic dog sits smiling, surrounded by flames, and says, “That’s it.”
The cartoon has become one of the most enduring memes of the past decade, and AI startup Artisan has apparently incorporated it into its advertising campaign. The cartoon’s creator, KC Green, claimed that his art was stolen in the ad.
BlueSky’s post appears to show an ad for a subway station featuring Green’s art, with a dog saying, “(M)y Pipeline is on fire,” and a message superimposed over it urging passersby to “Hire Ava, our AI BDR.”
Citing that post, Greene said, “More and more people are coming to me about this,” adding, “It’s not something (I) agreed with.” Instead, he said the ad was “stolen like an AI steals it” and asked his followers to “troll it if you see it.”
When TechCrunch emailed Artisan asking about the ad, the company said, “We have great respect for KC Green and his work and will be reaching out to him directly.” The company said in a follow-up email that it would schedule a time to speak with him.
Artisan has been controversial in the past for its advertising, particularly one that urged companies to “stop hiring people,” but founder and CEO Jasper Carmichael Jack insisted the message was about “categories of work” rather than “human beings in general.”
The phrase “this is it” first appeared in Greene’s webcomic Gun Show in 2013, and while Greene hasn’t completely ruled out the smiling dog (he recently adapted the comic into a game), it’s clear that it’s escaping Greene’s control. And of course, Green isn’t the only artist to see his memetic art used in ways he finds offensive.
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However, some artists are still taking action when their art is monetized or used in commercial ways without their permission. For example, when cartoonist Matt Fury sued the right-wing conspiracy theory website Infowars for using his character Pepe the Frog in a poster. (Furie and Infowars eventually settled.)
“We will look into (legal) representation because we think we have to,” Green told TechCrunch in an email. Still, he said, “having to take time out of my life to challenge the American court system instead of spending time doing what I’m passionate about, which is drawing comics and stories,” “takes the sails out of my sails.”
Green added: “These thoughtless AI losers are not untouchables, and memes don’t come out of thin air.”
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