AI News‘This is fine’ creator says AI startup stole his art

‘This is fine’ creator says AI startup stole his art

7:54 AM IST · May 4, 2026

You’ve seen this comic before: An anthropomorphic dog sits smiling, surrounded by flames, and says, “This is fine.” It’s become one ofthe most durable memesof the past decade, and now AI startupArtisanseems to have incorporated it into an ad campaign — an ad for whichKC Green, the artist who created the comic, said his art was stolen. A Bluesky postseems to show an ad in a subway station featuring Green’s art, except the dog says, “[M]y pipeline is on fire,” and an overlaid message urges passersby to “Hire Ava the AI BDR.” Quoting that post,Green saidhe’s “been getting more folks telling me about this” and that “it’s not anything [I] agreed to.” Instead, he said the ad has “been stolen like AI steals,” and he told followers to “please vandalize it if and when you see it.” i've been getting more folks telling me about this and it's not anything i agreed to. it's been stolen like AI steals. please vandalize it if and when you see it. When TechCrunch sent Artisan an email asking about the ad, the company said, “We have a lot of respect for KC Green and his work, and we’re reaching out to him directly.” In a follow-up email, the company said it had scheduled time to speak with him. Artisan has courted controversy with its ads before, specifically withbillboards urging businesses to “Stop hiring humans”— although founder and CEO Jaspar Carmichael-Jack insisted that the message was about “a category of work,” not “humans at large.” “This is fine” first appeared in Green’s webcomic“Gunshow”in 2013, and while he hasn’t disavowed the smiling-melting dog entirely (he recentlyturned the comic into a game), it’s clearlyescaped from his control.  And of course, Green is far from the only artist to see his meme-able art used in ways he finds objectionable. But some artists have still taken action when their art is monetized or used in commercial ways without their permission, for example when cartoonist Matt Furie sued right-wing conspiracy theory site Infowars for using his character Pepe the Frog in a poster. (Furie and Infowars eventually settled.) Green told TechCrunch via email that he will be “looking into [legal] representation, as I feel I have to.” Still, he said it “takes the wind out of my sails” that he has to take “time out of my life to try my hand at the American court system instead of putting that back into what I am passionate about, which is drawing comics and stories.” Green added, “These no-thought A.I. losers aren’t untouchable and memes just don’t come out of thin air.”