KC Green, the artist behind the widely recognized “This is fine” comic, said in May 2026 that AI startup Artisan used his artwork in a subway advertisement without his consent. Green stated the art was “stolen like AI steals” and urged people to vandalize the ad if they saw it.
The ad, surfaced in a Bluesky post, shows Green’s original image — an anthropomorphic dog sitting calmly amid flames — modified so the dog says “my pipeline is on fire.” The ad includes an overlay urging passersby to “Hire Ava the AI BDR,” a product offered by Artisan.
Green said he had been receiving multiple reports about the ad and confirmed it was “not anything [I] agreed to.” When contacted by TechCrunch, Artisan said it had “a lot of respect for KC Green and his work” and was reaching out to him directly. A follow-up statement said the company had scheduled time to speak with him.
Green told TechCrunch he is looking into legal representation, saying he feels he “has to.” He added that the situation “takes the wind out of my sails,” describing it as time taken away from drawing comics. “These no-thought A.I. losers aren’t untouchable and memes just don’t come out of thin air,” he said.
The “This is fine” comic first appeared in Green’s webcomic “Gunshow” in 2013 and has since become one of the internet’s most widely used memes. Artisan has previously drawn attention for billboard ads urging businesses to “Stop hiring humans,” a campaign its CEO Jaspar Carmichael-Jack described as referring to “a category of work,” not people broadly.
The case echoes a similar dispute in which cartoonist Matt Furie sued Infowars for using his character Pepe the Frog without permission — a case that eventually settled. Green’s situation may suggest similar legal action could follow, though no lawsuit has been filed as of publication.
Source: TechCrunch