The Gruffalo's illustrator is 'seriously considering' suing AI companies — so I tested whether ChatGPT and Gemini would recreate his famous characters (www.techradar.com)

Axel Scheffler, the illustrator of the beloved children's book "The Gruffalo," is contemplating legal action against AI companies for copyright infringement after witnessing AI-generated images depicting his famous character in various inappropriate settings. This raises critical questions about copyright law, especially concerning the production of recognizable versions of copyrighted characters by AI image generators. Many artists, like Scheffler, are increasingly concerned about the potential for AI models to reproduce their work without consent, thus jeopardizing their intellectual property rights. In a practical test, Scheffler’s concerns were validated when experiments with AI models like ChatGPT and Gemini showed stark differences in handling copyright. While ChatGPT refused to generate any version of the Gruffalo, Gemini produced an image strikingly similar to the original character, even depicting it in a festive setting, which could lead to significant legal disputes. This divergence highlights inconsistencies in how AI companies enforce copyright boundaries, prompting broader questions about their commitment to protecting artists' rights in the age of machine learning. The ongoing legal discussions will likely examine whether such AI-generated images constitute infringement and set precedents for copyright in an increasingly AI-driven creative landscape.