AI startup Artisan ran New York subway ads that used KC Green’s “This Is Fine” meme without his permission, a use Green said he did not agree to after being tagged about the campaign on social media. The ads showed the dog with a speech bubble reading “My pipeline is on fire” and an overlay that read “Hire Ava the AI BDR,” promoting Artisan’s Ava product. Ava is Artisan’s AI-powered business development representative, and Artisan raised $25 million in April 2025.
KC Green created the “This Is Fine” meme in 2013 for his webcomic Gunshow. Artisan is a company known for provocative advertising, including plastering “Stop Hiring Humans” billboards across San Francisco and featuring Jordan Belford in its ads. In its New York subway campaign, Artisan used a modified version of the meme with the dog’s speech bubble reading “My pipeline is on fire” and an overlay that read “Hire Ava the AI BDR,” promoting Ava, Artisan’s AI-powered business development representative.
KC Green discovered that his “This Is Fine” meme was used without consent in a subway ad campaign when Daniel Radosh tagged him on social media. Radosh expressed disbelief at the unauthorized use of the meme by an AI company, writing, “There’s no way KC Green approved this” and “Hard to believe an AI company would just steal someone’s work though!”
Upon learning of the situation, Green attempted to contact Artisan through email but did not expect a reply and eventually had to mute the notifications due to their overwhelming nature. In response, Artisan issued a public statement emphasizing their respect for Green’s work and stated that they were reaching out to arrange a conversation with him about the matter.
The unauthorized use of KC Green’s “This Is Fine” meme by Artisan is part of a broader trend of AI technology being used to infringe upon creators’ intellectual property rights without their consent. This phenomenon includes practices where AI is utilized to replicate or modify artistic works, images, or likenesses, often without obtaining permission from the original creators.
A notable example occurred in February 2025 when Israeli digital marketers created a viral deepfake video. This video featured AI-generated likenesses of high-profile individuals such as Scarlett Johansson, Drake, Jerry Seinfeld, and Steven Spielberg, all produced without their consent.
Scarlett Johansson commented on this incident, condemning the potential for AI to amplify hate speech, asserting that it poses a much greater threat compared to any single individual’s accountability.
Artisan ran New York subway ads that used KC Green’s This Is Fine meme without his permission, depicting the dog with a speech bubble about its pipeline and an overlay promoting Ava the AI BDR, Artisan’s AI-powered business development representative. The incident has intensified debate over AI and intellectual property rights and underscored wider concerns about unconsented uses of creative works by AI, including recent viral deepfake likenesses of public figures.
