Presenter(s)

Caitlin Larsen, Drake Onyx, Grace Robins, Grace Seidel, Elizabeth Tischler, and Alivia Tima

Abstract

AI generated imagery is now everywhere and accessible to almost everyone… for better or for worse. There are many artists worldwide who have been using artificial intelligence / machine learning for years to create fascinating, research or experimentally driven art. There are also many artists who are using AI simply as a tool, and there is a long history of artists using tools to help them work more efficiently (camera lucida, photography, Photoshop, etc).  Conversely, many artists are concerned about the use of their original artwork being scraped without their permission to train these bots, and artists whose jobs have been taken or threatened by AI. There are broader arguments for and against the prevalent use of AI (do we want a doctor whose thesis was written by a computer? Do we want movies written by algorithms? Yet isn’t it also good to have a computer proof-read your work and offer suggestions? To save you a lot of time editing photos?). Even within the visual arts world, it’s a complicated subject. In Fall 2024’s ART 317: Contemporary Studio Practices (an upper level painting and drawing class), art students were asked to separate into groups as Pro-AI and Anti-AI based on their own initial feelings towards machine learning. Pro-AI groups explored generative AI and Chat GPT to find ways that these technologies could be used to aid a studio artist. Anti-AI groups used the same technologies to subvert what AI produced, and to showcase the disadvantages and biases the medium presents to artists.

College

College of Liberal Arts

Department

Art & Design

Campus

Winona

First Advisor/Mentor

Alessandra Sulpy

Start Date

4-24-2025 10:00 AM

End Date

4-24-2025 11:00 AM

Presentation Type

Poster Session

Format of Presentation or Performance

In-Person

Session

1b=10am-11am

Poster Number

50

Comments

Additional student researchers - not presenting

Dane Canario, Alysen Endres, Piper Fuller, Axel Hillis, Kari Plumley, Laurel Rau, David Stevens, and Saige Sullivan

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Apr 24th, 10:00 AM Apr 24th, 11:00 AM

From Seurat to Skynet - Pros and Cons of AI in the Studio Arts

AI generated imagery is now everywhere and accessible to almost everyone… for better or for worse. There are many artists worldwide who have been using artificial intelligence / machine learning for years to create fascinating, research or experimentally driven art. There are also many artists who are using AI simply as a tool, and there is a long history of artists using tools to help them work more efficiently (camera lucida, photography, Photoshop, etc).  Conversely, many artists are concerned about the use of their original artwork being scraped without their permission to train these bots, and artists whose jobs have been taken or threatened by AI. There are broader arguments for and against the prevalent use of AI (do we want a doctor whose thesis was written by a computer? Do we want movies written by algorithms? Yet isn’t it also good to have a computer proof-read your work and offer suggestions? To save you a lot of time editing photos?). Even within the visual arts world, it’s a complicated subject. In Fall 2024’s ART 317: Contemporary Studio Practices (an upper level painting and drawing class), art students were asked to separate into groups as Pro-AI and Anti-AI based on their own initial feelings towards machine learning. Pro-AI groups explored generative AI and Chat GPT to find ways that these technologies could be used to aid a studio artist. Anti-AI groups used the same technologies to subvert what AI produced, and to showcase the disadvantages and biases the medium presents to artists.

 

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