# ChatGPT Caught Forging Real New Yorker Cartoonists' Signatures on AI-Generated Comics

_Legal · published 2026-10-07_

ChatGPT has been generating cartoon images bearing the forged signatures of working New Yorker cartoonists — including Brendan Loper, Harry Bliss, Emily Flake, Joe Dator, Pat Byrnes, Peter Vey, and Jason Adam Katzenstein — without their knowledge or consent. The issue surfaced publicly when a viral AI-generated tribute cartoon depicting Dolly Parton and Tim Curry carried Loper's distinctive "BLOPER" signature, prompting friends and fans to contact him believing the work was his. Loper told Nieman Lab the experience felt like "a violation of my personhood," describing his signature as a mark of authenticity he applies only to work he personally stands behind.

The incidents layer trademark and identity concerns on top of the already contentious issue of AI models training on unlicensed artwork. The legal stakes are underscored by Getty Images' largely unsuccessful UK lawsuit against Stability AI, in which a judge did find trademark infringement because the AI reproduced Getty's watermark in generated images — a precedent that may apply to the forging of individual artists' signatures as well.

## Sources
- [futurism.com](https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/chatgpt-caught-putting-signatures-of-real-cartoonists-on-ai-generated-comics)
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