SonicFox Cancels Contract With Gaming Convention After Event Uses Likeness in AI-Generated Poster

Pro player SonicFox has terminated their contract with a convention in Norman, Oklahoma, after organizers used artwork of the pro's mascot character to generate a promotional poster for the event using AI. SonicFox is one of the most successful fighting game players in the genre’s competitive scene and was invited as a special guest to Nexcon, scheduled for November 14-15. On October 20, a concerned fan shared a promotional poster that Nexcon had created using generative AI on Twitter/X, which featured the likeness of SonicFox’s furry avatar and other special guests in an unmistakable AI art style. The player responded: “Not sure who’s in charge of Nexcon but I absolutely refuse to have my likeness be AI-generated, and my interest in attending as a special guest has dropped to 0. Incredibly disrespectful.” It was noted that much of the artwork SonicFox uses is created by members of the furry community; feeding this work into generative AI without consent essentially steals their intellectual property for training future models. Following public support from the fighting game community, SonicFox announced that they had terminated their contract with the event, stating simply that they are “no longer attending.” As of the time of writing, all mention of SonicFox has been removed from NexCon’s website.