2 September 2026
Anthropic's Claude chatbot blocks copyrighted character image generation
First reported
Simon Willison ran this on .
- Claude 5.1 now refuses to generate images of copyrighted characters, artworks, logos, and branded figures through code-based drawing tools.
- The system prompt treats detailed descriptions of recognizable characters the same as directly naming them, blocking both approaches.
- This restriction applies to all image generation attempts, whether users name characters explicitly or describe them in detail.
How it was covered
Simon WillisonDaily notes and links
The system prompt now explicitly forbids generating images of copyrighted artworks, characters, logos, and brand figures through code-based drawing, treating recognizable character descriptions as equivalent to naming them directly.