ChatGPT is adding real cartoonists' signatures to fake New Yorker cartoons
- ID
- 32114
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 06 Oct 2026, 6:46 AM
- Fetched
- 06 Oct 2026, 9:06 AM
- Provider
- Hacker News
- Category
- dev-community
- Original URL
- https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/chatgpt-is-adding-real-cartoonists-signatures-to-fake-new-yorker-cartoons/
- Source URL
- https://hnrss.org/best
Summary
- Score
- 7.0
- Created
- 06 Oct 2026, 9:06 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersvibe_codersai_ml_learnerssaas_startup_founders
What happened
Nieman Lab reports that ChatGPT is not just imitating The New Yorker's cartoon style; it is also generating fake New Yorker cartoons that carry real cartoonists' signatures, falsely attributing AI-generated images to those artists. The article, by Andrew Deck and published Oct. 5, 2026, says Nieman Lab commissioned cartoonist Brendan Loper to draw a response after ChatGPT reproduced his signature. The Hacker News thread on the story has 183 points and 79 comments.
Why it matters
No Malaysia-specific detail is in the text, but for Malaysian builders shipping AI image features, this is a concrete case of model output falsely attributing work to a named artist. Teams should decide how to handle signature/name replication, provenance labels, and artist takedown requests before users generate the problem.
Discussion angle
Ask who should be responsible when a model outputs a real artist's signature: the API provider, the app builder, or the user—and what filter or provenance feature would you ship first?