Colin Kaepernick's Foray Into A.I. Comics is Deeply Embarrassing

RANT: Colin Kaepernick has entered the world of comics in the dumbest way imaginable: through the power of Artificial intelligence.

In the last week, Lumi, “a platform that empowers creators by providing them with the tools needed to independently create, publish, and merchandise their stories both digitally and physically,” launched. The company — owned by Kaepernick — raised $4 million in venture capital funding with major investors like rapper Chamillionaire and tech execs from Meta. And while their message of encouraging artists, writers, and creatives sounds like a good thing at face value, the whole concept of Lumi is poison at its roots.

Lumi wants to make art while stressing the importance of diverse storytelling — something that aligns with Kaepernick’s personal brand and overall mission statement as the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback is a lauded champion of diversity, a message that goes back to his courageous and powerful stance of kneeling during the national anthem that still makes him a major target among right-wing figures. Fast forward to 2024, and Kaepernick is now the face of Lumi, a company planning to create comic books and graphic novels. The company wants to give users the tools to make, publish, and merchandise stories in the digital and physical realm through A.I. In their own words, they want to “democratize storytelling.”

Parts of their statement on their plans for comic books include:

"The company plans to focus energy on comic book and graphic-novel creators first, a market with the need for multiple creative skill sets." ‍

“Lumi is on a mission to democratize storytelling by providing creators with the tools to independently create, publish, and merchandise their stories. Founded by Colin Kaepernick, Lumi leverages advanced A.I. technology to enhance the creative process and ensure diverse and authentic stories shape our future.”

"Lumi leverages advanced A.I. technology to enhance the creative process and ensure diverse and authentic stories shape our future."

Somehow, the statement gets worse as you read on.

“Lumi was founded out of the barriers that Kaepernick discovered publishing his own works. This included high production costs, long production timelines, and gatekeeping within the industry. These challenges generate significant friction for creators, preventing many projects from getting off the ground. By decreasing the barrier to entry, Lumi opens the funnel of creativity to the world, enabling a new wave of diverse and innovative stories to come to life.”

Are the challenges of human interaction and collaboration now a problem? Is the creative process a barrier? Excuse me? The real translation: I don’t want to pay creatives what they are worth but want to profit off of stealing art from unchecked databases.

Kaepernick’s statement on the matter is even dumber.

“Lumi addresses an unnecessary dependency on gatekeepers that slows creators down,” says Kaepernick, Founder & CEO of Lumi. “This allows creators to return to what they ultimately want to do: create. The platform empowers creators to work freely and independently, deciding when and how they want to collaborate with others. This independence is crucial for fostering a vibrant and diverse creative ecosystem.”

Uh… no.

The creative process isn’t gatekeeping. Nor will Lumi allow creators to work freely and independently. Instead, it encourages them to cut corners and be lazy by generating A.I. slop and calling it a comic book. It’s soulless. There hasn’t been, and there never will be, an A.I. comic book worth reading. It’s just an excuse not to pay artists, colorists, and letterers and lazily slap your name on something to try to generate profit.

No matter how many keywords Kaepernick uses to pretend like A.I. is fostering creativity and helping with diversity, Lumi is just another example of a Silicon Valley company trying to leverage A.I. In this case, neither Kaepernick nor anyone involved has a basic understanding of the comic industry because A.I. and storytelling never mix. Using databases likely compiled of stolen art with trained systems won’t make anything of value.

So, stop pretending that Lumi is a significant investment in creativity and diversity, and be honest about what it is: a cash grab.