US comedian Julia Jasunas poses for a portrait at the Laugh Factory in Long Beach, California on October 16, 2026. A growing chorus of stand-up comedians say artificial intelligence is enabling the theft of their intellectual labor. The trend is part of what experts call a mass-scale creative heist facing artists -- from painters to musicians -- as AI extracts from their work without compensation or attribution, leaving them with little recourse. (Photo by Loic PIALAT / AFP via Getty Images)