DIY vs. AI: The Battle For The Soul of The Show Flyer

“No More AI Flyers,” declared Oakland dive bar and kitsch palace Thee Stork Club in a Sept. 9 Instagram post. “It’s giving us the ick.” As of this writing, the post has received more than 600 replies from patrons, artists, and others, mostly in enthusiastic support. (There are also a handful poking fun at the post’s intentionally weird typos and formatting.)

According to club co-owner Billy Agan, the ban was a response to a growing problem: the AI flyer situation has grown from weird one-offs to about two per week since the beginning of the year. “I have an eye for illustrated design,” Agan says. “I know that something is not consistent, you know what I mean? Like, if a poster is a cartoon dog and you can see the teeth. You can just tell when that stuff is AI.”