Editorial cartoonists’ group critical of Baltimore Sun for AI-generated image

The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists is calling on The Baltimore Sun to abandon artificial intelligence in its editorial art, days after the newspaper ran what the group described as an AI-generated “illustration” that it says readers were meant to accept as an editorial cartoon.

In an open letter to the Sun’s publisher and editors, AAEC President Marc Murphy said the Sept. 4 illustration, which accompanied a crime story tied to Fells Point, marked a new low for the paper. The Sun labeled the image with a caption reading: “Produced using artificial intelligence tools by the Baltimore Sun editorial staff.”

“The illustration in question was not drawn by an artist or even a human being,” Murphy wrote. “It was Artificial Intelligence slop, generated in response to juvenile and uninformed prompts. The result was unsurprisingly uninteresting and an insult to journalism, art, and The Sun’s readers.”

“The Road to Hell — an America that has outsourced its most important human work — is paved with cost-cutting moves,” Murphy wrote, referencing two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Kevin Kallaugher (KAL), a long-time member and emeritus of the AAEC who was let go from The Sun for what was considered budget reasons. “This slop published by The Sun might as well be a signpost, pointing the way for publications like the Sun to certain irrelevance and then demise.”

Image via AAEC website