By Frédérique Lapointe
In November of 2025, a group of Quebec illustrators and creators got together at the Salon du livre de Montréal to protest the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) in the cultural sphere. Among the demonstrators, one man stood out. His name? Pascal Colpron.
Pascal Colpron is a great talker. He has years of experience in the world of the arts, with a prolific career encompassing movie and TV special effects. He has worked as a storyboard artist and an artistic director. Unsatisfied with what he was doing in the entertainment industry, he wanted to “let myself go artistically,” in his own words. “I wanted to make my own name.”
In 2008, conditions being favorable for cartoonists thanks to the Internet, he went into illustration and is today an independent artist. Between autobiographically-themed works (Mon petit nombril – My Little Belly Button) and collaborations with magazines like Les Débrouillards, his career has prospered.
Experimentation et Disappointment
Pascal has lived through some painful times these past few years. Aside from the pandemic, he had to take time off to care for his eldest daughter, who suffered from cancer. But in 2024, once he had returned to the artistic realm, he noted that there were fewer opportunities open to him. In his entourage there was increasing worry. A new technology was making its way: Generative Artificial Intelligence.
As a self-described “chronically online” artist, he decided to dive into just what GAI represents. After all, people are experimenting with this revolutionary new technology. Why not try it out?
Pascal became quickly disenchanted. He realized that most GAI users weren’t using the technology out of a love of art, but to “fool people about their real talent level.” He sees GAI as “smoke and mirrors.”
Then there is the question of plagiarism. He tells of the controversy over the 2025 Scouts Canada calendar. Each year the calendar represents more than a simple time marker. It is a prime contract for selected illustrators, and it symbolizes a rich cultural object, a celebration of the diversity among Canadian and Quebec artists. For 2025 Scouts Canada announced that their calendar would be produced by “a practically unknown artist,” according to Pascal. Algorithms can inspire but can never create new images themselves, which brings up the question of plagiarism.
Eventually, Scouts Canada hired another artist to do their 2025 calendar. Artists had a new enemy.
When he read an article by cartoonist Jean-Paul Eid entitled “Quand l’intelligence artificielle aura tout dévoré” (When AI Will Have Devoured Everything) in the November 15, 225 issue of Le Devoir, Pascal saw the light. He recalls being galvanized by the article.
That’s when he got the idea to organize a demonstration at the Montreal book fair, the Salon du livre de Montréal 2025, to sound the alarm over the dangers of GAI for culture. He organized the event in a week. Pascal highlighted publishers that benefit from public subsidies and use AI for their works.
Apprentice Activist
Pascal Colpron is not a natural born activist. He considers himself to the left on the political spectrum and is aware of social issues and gender equality. But he had never dived into the world of activism. From time to time, he shares committed publications on his Facebook page, but he had never “stirred the pot for a cause.” He wondered: was he doing something crazy?
But he decided no, after receiving support from his circle and from people involved in the movement. He got involved in preparations: producing protest signs, writing slogans, making badges and buttons, all to create a unifying event.
Pascal at first imagined a silent happening: authors stopping their public dedications at a certain hour, to carry protest signs for 15 minutes in front of publishers seen to be at fault on the issue.
But friends and colleagues questioned him on his choice. “Silent? Are you sure?” One sleepless night, Pascal’s head was buzzing. At 2 a.m., he wrote a first draft of his speech, in bed, on his phone. “When Jean-Paul Eid tod me ‘you’ve said everything,’ I had my speech.”
No demonstration happens without its share of detractors. When tie time came Internet people, mostly pro-AI, showed their disapproval of the event online. But once on site, the protestors received the support of the book fair’s director, Olivier Gougeon.
The event went off better than Pascal expected. “(Gougeon) even gave us a stage at the Agora with a microphone, so I didn’t have to shout. On the even we thought of ways to be discreet, but we were given a platform that suited us on a silver platter.”
Finally, despite being nervous, Pascal gave his speech. It was a resounding success. “I saw tears on the faces of some of my colleagues,” he recalls.
Human Art?
After the demonstration, The Regroupement pour l’art humain (RAH) was formed, and Pascal took on the role of the group’s co-spokesperson. Within a few months the RAH counted 60 publishers committed to not using AI.
The saying “human art” puts the word “human” before a word than for millennia has been associated only with humans. Pascal sees this new formula favorably. He sees AI as a mirage for elites, CEOs and patrons alike. Used to giving orders to people judges unpredictable, they can now order around “genies out of the bottle that seem infallible,” but who are equally as obstinate and unpredictable. They simply work faster and cheaper.
“That’s why the adage ‘human art’ is pertinent,” Pascal says. It’s not only a point of pride, it also comes with a value system. Sensitivity, patience, respect for the process that brings joy to its creator.”
In the short term, the RAH plans to send kits to publishers in support of the group’s demands. These kits will contain various objects: bookmarks, posters, a “100% human creation” seal, so that publishers can show their support for authentic human art.
“We’re also talking about different players in the book field, and we’re being invited to all sorts of panels and conferences,” Pascal adds. Decidedly, the RAH’s work is not yet done.
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