Artist banned from Reddit's r/Art for work mistaken as AI-generated

On December 27, digital artist Ben Moran posted his artwork 'A Muse in Warzone' on Reddit's r/Art forum from his desk in Vietnam. The work, a commission for a book cover created over a month using Photoshop, was flagged and removed for violating the forum's strict anti-AI policies. Moderators accused Moran of sharing AI-generated art due to its fantasy-Renaissance style, common among AI images. When Moran offered to provide Photoshop files as proof, a moderator responded: 'Even if you 'painted' it yourself, it's a design so obviously suggested by AI that it doesn't matter. If you're a 'serious' artist, find a different style because A) nobody will believe you when you say it's not AI, and B) AI can do better in seconds what might take you hours.' Moran was then muted and banned from the moderator chat for 30 days. The incident highlights the ongoing debate around AI-generated art, which intensified after an AI image won a prestigious US art competition in September 2022. Forums like r/Art, r/Illustration, Inkblot, and Newgrounds have banned non-human-created art. Reddit moderators told Vice they cannot reverse the ban without becoming targets of online trolls.