The AI Wars Come to DragonCon

In the United States, this past weekend was Labor Day weekend. It’s a 3-day weekend commonly associated with sales, barbeques and Dragon Con.

Dragon Con describes itself as “the largest multi-media, pop culture convention focusing on science fiction & fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe.”

The conference attracts over 70,000 attendees annually, and hundreds of vendors compete to sell a wide range of pop culture-based merchandise. All in all, it’s one of the busiest times for anyone interested in pop culture of any stripe.

But, while Dragon Con may be an escape from the outside world, this year, a divisive real-world issue ended up dominating much of the discourse: Generative AI.

This came as one of the convention’s vendors, using the name Oriana Gertz, was removed from the venue by police after staff determined she was selling AI-generated work in her booth.

Although many have celebrated this move, particularly other vendors, it’s not the end of the story. For better or worse, AI is here to stay, and that includes on the trade show floor.

This is simply one of the first volleys.

What Happened at Dragon Con

To be clear, many of the details about what happened are unclear.

However, over the course of the event, some vendors began to express frustration that one of the booths was selling AI images. However, the posts didn’t call out the specific vendor or even Dragon Con.

I love getting waitlisted for a con so that someone can sell Ai images. It’s like my favorite thing…

— Lauren Walsh (@laurenwalshart.bsky.social) August 31, 2025 at 11:58 AM

On Monday, the last day of the conference, event staff approached the booth’s operators and told them they had to leave. Initially, they refused, but a police officer came and escorted the booth’s operators out of the building.

The move was heavily celebrated by other vendors, who not only posted about the ordeal on social media but also quickly created signs to display on the table.

lol

[image or embed]

— RJ Palmer Lightbox Expo 101 (@rj-palmer.com) September 1, 2025 at 4:21 PM

Initially, Gaetz was not apologetic. She even messaged one business owner, “I’d share a screenshot of my sales this weekend, but don’t have to show it, give any explanations to you losers. You guys are sore because you don’t sell sh*t and will be forever broke. Have fun being a broke bitch.”

oh and in case you feel bad about charging them back here ya go. Absolute trash person.

[image or embed]

— Lauren Walsh (@laurenwalshart.bsky.social) September 1, 2025 at 12:11 PM

However, as of this writing, her Instagram is set to private, and she has removed her CV from her website.

It is unclear how Dragon Con determined that Gaetz used AI or why it took until the third day to remove the booth. It is also unclear if Dragon Con’s vendor agreement strictly forbids the use of AI,

In one article, the organizers stated that Gaetz had “misrepresented” her work as original, leading to the dismissal.

Though vendors and other artists have largely celebrated the decision, much bigger problems remain.

The Backlash Against AI

This isn’t the first time that Dragon Con has had to address AI. Last year, as part of the Dragon Awards, artist Cedar Sanderson was abruptly removed from the finalists’ list following allegations of AI generation.

His work, which competed in the Best Illustrative Cover category, was removed because, according to Dragon Con Co-Chair Dave Cody, “we don’t allow AI in our Art Show, Comic and Pop Artist Alley, Vendor Halls or the Awards.“

To make matters worse, just a few days before this story, a booth at FanExpo Canada drew a protest over its use of AI to generate portraits of attendees.

Here, the police were called on the protestors, not the booth. However, the protestors worked out a trade where most of the crowd would disperse in exchange for talking with the booth’s manager.

However, these stories make two things very clear. First, AI is permeating this space. Second, fans and artists, for the most part, are not pleased with that reality. But keeping AI out is going to be a significant challenge.

Not only is it backed with a significant amount of money, but it’s going to be difficult to separate what is human-made from what is machine-made.

Long and Short Term Problems

In the immediate term, Dragon Con needs to examine its policies. Although Cody’s 2024 statement makes it clear that the conference does not allow AI-generated works, it’s unclear whether that policy was included in their vendor agreement.

Note: I’ve been unable to locate a copy of the vendor agreement and will update this article if I find or otherwise obtain one later.

One thing that conferences need to do now is determine what they want their policy on AI to be and ensure that this policy is clearly expressed in their marketing, messaging, and, most importantly, in their legal agreements.

The primary goal is to establish clear expectations for both vendors and attendees. As we saw in the recent Dragon Con incident, attendees who think they are in an AI-free space become upset when they find it is not.

However, keeping AI out of these spaces will become increasingly difficult. The problem is two-fold.

First is simply that AI will likely continue to improve. AI work will become increasingly difficult to detect. It’s unclear how Gertz was caught or what evidence was presented. Regardless of how it was done, it will become increasingly difficult over time.

The second issue is money. The FanExpo booth at issue was a massive presence by the telecommunications company Bell. They were a major sponsor of the event. Though Dragon Con may be large enough to turn away AI money, smaller events likely aren’t.

But, even if they can resist, it’s much easier and less risky to shutter a small booth than it is to reject a major sponsor.

The question isn’t whether AI will make it on the convention show floor; it’s a matter of how and what response it will get when it’s there.

Bottom Line

If I were to run a convention, I would be asking myself some difficult questions. What should the AI policy be? How can we enforce it? How do I communicate this to everyone involved?

All three of those elements are difficult. While most seem to agree that wholesale AI-generated work should be off-limits, there are legitimate questions about using AI to touch up or modify existing works. Those things get grayer and more difficult to detect.

Speaking of detection, how will you detect AI work? Who will make the final judgment about whether a work is AI-generated? What standard will they use? What will the punishment be? These are all very important and very difficult questions.

After that, this must be presented in clear language to all parties. This means using clear marketing language to set expectations for attendees, clear and plain language to convey them to vendors, and legalese for all relevant contracts.

Sadly for convention goers, these are no longer an escape from the AI wars. Instead, they are very much on the front lines, and the fight is taking place in their halls.

Everyone needs to be prepared.