Pasadena artist Devin Elle Kurtz says the U.S. Department of Education used her “Avatar: The Last Airbender” fan art without her consent in an Oct. 29 X post, the Los Angeles Times reported. The department captioned its post, “There’s Magic in Learning 🪄.”
Kurtz told the Times she made the art in 2023 to share her love of the series with its creators and fans. The paper describes her original as showing Aang and Zuko practicing fire-bending while two dragons move around them. In the department’s image, the Times reports, the characters appear in “seemingly identical stances, outfits and color scheme,” with text reading “There’s magic in learning” and “Make education great again.”
“I did not and would never consent to this administration running my fanart through AI and posting it,” Kurtz wrote on social media, as quoted by the Times. She told the paper she wanted to make clear that she had not “co-signed” the post. Kurtz believes AI was likely used to alter her work, pointing to missing dragons and oddly sized bricks in the department’s version. The Times’ account does not establish how the image was made.
Kurtz told the Times she does not intend to pursue legal action because her fan art is based on existing intellectual property. The department did not immediately respond to the paper’s request for comment late Thursday.
