A promotional poster for the second season of Loki on Disney Plus has sparked controversy among professional designers after claims it was at least partially created using generative AI. illustrator Katria Raden has marked the image as an X (formerly Twitter) last week, claiming that the image of the spinning clock in the background “shows all the telltale signs of AI, like things randomly turning into meaningless squiggles” – a reference to the artifacts sometimes left behind by AI image generators become.
The creative community fears that AI image generators could be trained in their work without consent and used as replacements for human artists. Disney had previously received backlash over its use of generative AI in another Marvel series, Secret Invasion, although the studio insisted that the use of AI tools did not reduce the roles for real designers on the project.
Visual errors such as wonky links, smudged lettering and “meaningless squiggles” can be seen in the image – suggesting that the background was created using generative AI. Image: Disney / Marvel / The Verge
Several According to @thepokeflutist Whoever bought the stock image posted it on Shutterstock this year – which rules out the possibility that it is too old for AI generation – and does not contain any embedded metadata confirming how the image was created. Several AI image reviewers who scanned the stock image also marked it as AI generated.
AI-generated stock photos are a real problem for many creative professionals. As Raden notes, “Licensing photos and illustrations on stock sites has been a way for many hard-working artists to make a living.” I don’t think it’s more ethical to do so through generated images through a system based on mass exploitation and wage theft replacing technology than replacing Disney’s own employees.”
Companies like Adobe and Getty are also promoting ways to make AI-generated content commercially viable, but it’s unclear whether these platforms are better than Shutterstock at moderating submissions that don’t adhere to their contributor rules.
The poster has been distributed on numerous platforms such as Apple’s App Store since its release. Image: Apple / Disney / Marvel
It’s also not clear whether Disney used generative AI elsewhere to create the promotional material for Loki. Some X users have speculated that it may have been used on parts of the image such as the miniaturized figures surrounding Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, noting their awkward positioning. Disney ignored our requests to clarify whether AI was used in the Loki promotional art and to confirm whether the company licensed the above Shutterstock image.
There’s an argument here that since the clock image used for Loki isn’t labeled as Shutterstock AI-generated, Disney may not know about its origins. Still, the flaws present in the stock image would be easy for most graphic designers to spot, so incorporating random artifacts into the final poster doesn’t look good to Disney’s design or editing process.
The creative industry has become saturated with AI-powered tools like Adobe Firefly and Canva Magic Studio over the past year. These tools aim to make things easier for people with limited design experience and are typically advertised to organizations that want to produce cheap art on a large scale. Stock images are widely used by businesses because they are quick, affordable, and accessible, reducing the need to hire experienced designers to create content from scratch. With AI-generated stocks also becoming increasingly popular, it’s easy to understand why creative professionals are worried about the future of their industry.