Cartoonist KC Green says sales-AI startup Artisan used a modified version of his "This Is Fine" comic in a subway ad without permission, turning one of the internet's most recognizable meme images into a fresh copyright dispute.

What happened

In a Bluesky post on May 3, Green said he had been told about the ad by multiple people and that it was "not anything I agreed to." A separate post from writer Daniel Radosh showed a subway placement that appeared to reuse the dog-in-fire image while changing the caption to promote Artisan's Ava AI sales rep.

TechCrunch reported that Artisan responded by saying it had "a lot of respect for KC Green and his work" and was reaching out to him directly. The same report said Green told the outlet he was looking into legal representation.

Why it matters

The important, verified facts are still narrow: Green publicly says he did not authorize the ad, a widely shared photo appears to show the ad in the wild, and Artisan says it is contacting him. That is enough to make this more than a meme-cycle flare-up.

Artisan is already known for provocative AI marketing, including its earlier "Stop hiring humans" billboard campaign. This latest episode shows how fast AI branding can run into copyright and reputation risk when companies borrow from internet culture without clear permission. Whether the dispute becomes a lawsuit is still unclear, but the public backlash has already landed.