DinoCon 2026
Palaeontology Convention
The UK’s big dinosaur convention, successor to TetZooCon and a showcase for working palaeoartists. When Walking with Dinosaurs creator Tim Haines promoted generative AI from its 2026 stage, DinoCon publicly disavowed the talk, declaring it “does not support the use of generative AI in any way.”
Why this score
How the formula works →- +6.0antiCampaigns against AI
- +1.5anti2 anti-AI statements (forceful)
Weights, statement counts, the ×1.25 multiplier for having a stake in an AI-impacted field, and the formula’s smoothing are already baked in — the points add up to the score: Strongly Anti-AI · 7.5/10
In their words
We want to make it clear that DinoCon does not support the use of generative AI in any way.
In a world of increasing AI imagery at every corner a paleoartists works can have a hard time to stand out. In such an environment it’s not just scientific credibility but also intent and purpose that can lift your work over the noise of slop.
Biography
DinoCon is the UK’s annual dinosaur convention — palaeontology, palaeoart, models, books and monsters under one roof. Organized by palaeontologist Darren Naish and palaeoartist John Conway as the successor to their long-running TetZooCon (2014–2024), it debuted at the University of Exeter in August 2025 and returned July 25–26, 2026 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole. Palaeoartists are the heart of the event: its art exhibition, workshops and vendor hall are pitched as the primary showcase for the people who draw, sculpt and animate prehistory.
Hostility to generative AI runs through that community, and through DinoCon’s own programming. Its inaugural 2025 palaeoart panel discussed “the threat of generative AI,” and the 2026 programme description for Joschua Knüppe’s palaeoart workshop lamented a world of “increasing AI imagery at every corner” drowning artists’ work in “the noise of slop.”
The Haines talk
The 2026 edition’s headline booking was Tim Haines, creator of Walking with Dinosaurs, giving an exclusive talk on his NBC series Surviving Earth. On stage, Haines spoke favourably about generative AI in palaeo-media — remarks that, per attendee accounts on r/Paleontology, drew boos from an audience full of the artists such tools threaten to displace. Within a day the convention posted a statement distancing itself from its own speaker.
We are aware that during one of this year’s talks, controversial statements about the promotion of generative AI in palaeo-media were made. This component of the talk was not included in the presentation brief that we approved for show. We want to make it clear that DinoCon does not support the use of generative AI in any way. We’d like to thank the amazing array of artists and creators that joined us this year at DinoCon 2026 who we will continue to support in future.
The statement — thanking its artists while repudiating its marquee guest — was cheered by the palaeoart community online, and turned a weekend celebration of prehistory into one of 2026’s cleaner examples of an institution drawing a categorical anti-AI line.
Gallery
Sources & further reading
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/dinocon-2026
