Our story focuses on a hero slowly turning into a grifter, former NFL Quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who was known for his protest of Police Brutality and Racial Inequality in the United States as a Civil Rights Activist, and for his New York Times Best Selling work, I Color Myself Different. A man who was driven out of his career in professional sports after being accused by Conservative Media and the former President of the United States in 2016 of being “Unpatriotic And Disrespectful of the American Flag” is now willing to sacrifice his credibility and integrity to promote a new business venture called Lumi, promising to democratize storytelling by providing creators with the tools to independently create, publish, and merchandise their stories. Sounds good, right? Well, keep reading: “By leveraging advanced AI tools, Lumi enhances the creative process, allowing creators to focus on bringing their stories to life, while the platform handles all of the logistics.“
According to Comic Beat’s Heidi MacDonald, Kaepernick was at San Diego Comic-Con, wandering around Artist’s Alley and appearing at networking events, evidently to talk about the venture. If he mentioned that he was there to promote Artificial Intelligence while in the Artist Alley, he would most likely be met with boos and harsh criticism, which came up shortly after the news broke when he raised $4 Million for a fruitless business venture that will harm creators more than help them. As you can already tell if you follow the Comic Book Industry or the Artist Community, there have already been creators weighing in on Kaepernick’s approach to “Free Creators,” listed below are what Comic Creators are saying about Colin Kaepernick’s interview to promote Lumi:
The former quarterback raised $4 Million through investments for Lumi, Seven Seven Six led the seed round alongside Kapor Capital and Impellent Ventures, angel investors Mariam Naficy (founder of Minted), David Sze, Chamillionaire, and tech execs from Meta, Anthropic, ContextualAI, Sleeper, Pave, and more, according to Bleeding Cool’s Rich Johnston.
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.
“Lumi addresses an unnecessary dependency on gatekeepers that slows creators down,” says Kaepernick, Founder & CEO of Lumi. “This allows creators to get back 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.”
Like NFTs and Crypto Currency, AI-generated work is another gimmick that is being displayed as Easy Money, when in reality it is a Scam-laced Fever Dream. Humans already have the capability of creating a story, whether it be through writing or artwork, they have to be willing to put in the work and the sacrifice to make it happen, not delivering empty promises of being the next Walt Disney by using scraped content through dishonest means. Kaepernick’s definition of “Gatekeeping” is ridiculous, there is no Gatekeeping involved when it comes to creating your comic series, the tools are out there, but you have to be willing to take a chance, and not fall for gimmicks like what Lumi is trying to push.
Buried in the press release was this line “The company plans to focus energy on comic book and graphic-novel creators first, a market with the need for multiple creative skill sets.” if you’re promising people they’ll be the next Walt Disney and the empowerment to create their own story, then why choose Artificial Intelligence? It would be the AI living the dream, not the “Creator”. The money raised for this grift would be better used to support actual creators and artists.
This website does not support or endorse AI Art or anything related to Artificial Intelligence. Our commitment is to supporting Artists, Writers, and other Creators who have put their blood, sweat, tears, and hearts into their work. And thank them for their hard work and for inspiring others.
Source: Press Release, Comics Beat, Bleeding Cool
Thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions, news tips, or questions, email them to: webmaster@bigrednerd.com.
Red's Nerd Den 