To prepare for the 2023 spring semester, New York University professor Winnie Song did something she’s never had to do before: she created AI art guidelines for her students.
Song, an assistant arts professor in the Game Center at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, is not the only art instructor thinking about this. With the rapid rise of automated systems like Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and DALL-E 2 within the past year, instructors at post-secondary art institutions are trying to figure out how to broach the topic with their students while still learning the intricacies of AI art themselves.
“My worry was that they would use the AI generators to come up with mood boards and references of things that don’t exist in real life. So I just set a policy where, within the bounds of this class, it’s discouraged to use the generators,” Song told Motherboard. “I really didn’t ever imagine that it would get to this point where people would be, like, trying to legitimize it as a craft.”
But while the growing sophistication of AI generators is raising profound questions about the nature of art and the creative process, it is also creating very tangible dilemmas for art educators who want their students to develop skills that go beyond typing a phrase into a text prompt and turning it in as their own work.
“I think we endeavor to teach them to become independent of tools and also make sure that they remain sort of agnostic, not reverent and dependent on one thing to get presentable work,” Song said. “You can learn this, and you can think about it, but that can’t be your one main thing to get to where you need to be.”
The ways professors have been introducing AI art in the classroom varies between classes and disciplines. Song said she’s teaching a drawing class in which students are supposed to derive inspiration from nature and the physical world, hence her AI art policy. On the other hand, Kurt Ralske, a digital media professor and department chair of media arts at Tufts University’s School of the Museum of Fine Arts, is taking a different approach.
“Personally, I’ve been encouraging students to explore this. I think they should know what the tools are, what they’re capable of and maybe develop a personal vocabulary of how to use them,” Ralske told Motherboard. “But we really are overdue for actually maybe having a larger discussion within the university of how we should handle these things.”
Doug Rosman, a lecturer in the Art and Technology Studies department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, is also having students explore the generators in his machine learning class. But, in his professional practice class, a more career-focused course, AI art and its impact on working artists is a different discussion.
“In that context, the outputs of DALL-E and Stable Diffusion feel more threatening,” Rosman told Motherboard.
Instructors aren’t the only ones thinking about the products of AI art generators. Art students are also dealing with the effects of AI art saturating the market for artists and what that could mean for their careers.
“The way that artists are embracing crazy capitalist, hyper-technology culture is just really disheartening,” said Marla Chinbat, an art student at the University of Illinois-Chicago. “I wouldn’t be surprised if AI art actually begins to hold merit because of a side of the art world that I don’t align myself with.”
None of the instructors or students at the institutions interviewed by Motherboard said their department or school had issued AI art guidelines or a policy for using AI art generators for projects. Charlotte Belland, a professor and chair of the animation program at the Columbus College of Art & Design, said setting parameters is left to individual instructors depending on the topics and concepts being taught in class.
“As long as they establish what their parameters are, then that’s an open forum to be able to either use or not use AI technology,” Belland told Motherboard.
However, learning how these programs work and how to help students use them takes time and effort on behalf of the instructor. If an instructor is not already familiar with machine learning or computer science, navigating the ways AI-art generators are shaking up the art world and understanding the algorithms could take extra work.
“Teaching is hard. It’s so much work and it’s not well compensated,” Rosman said. “It’s not fair that a small demographic of people in Silicon Valley can just throw this thing out into the world, and we’ve got to just run around picking up the pieces.”
Susan Behrends Valenzuela, an art student at NYU Steinhardt. Photo courtesy of the artist
Even if their instructors have not brought up AI art in classes, students are still thinking about how AI art generators are affecting the art world. Susan Behrends Valenzuela, an art student at NYU Steinhardt, said the subject has only come up once in just one of her classes, but would be interested in further discussions in other classes.
“I do wish we had talked about it a little bit more,” she told Motherboard. “But at the same time, I think in order for that to happen, my professors would need to kind of know a little bit more about that type of technology, and I just think it’s not something they’re really focused on.”
Students are also thinking about how they could use these tools as part of their processes. Rhode Island School of Design painting student Julia Hames said they played around with AI generator Wombo for inspiration.
“For a while, I didn’t have any ideas of what to paint, so I’d just put in random prompts into Wombo to see what it created,” Hames told Motherboard. “I didn’t really like anything, but maybe it could be used for that because the images are so absurd and it just lets you into this uncanny valley that honestly humans can’t even get to sometimes.”
Julia Hames, a painting student at Rhode Island School of Design. Photo courtesy of the artist
Song, Ralske, Rosman, and Belland all said they have not had students use AI-art generators for projects without their knowledge. If a student did use AI for a project, the way they used it was clear to the instructor. Belland said that if a student did try to use AI without consent from an instructor, being in a community with diverse perspectives and skills would help catch it.
“The nice thing about an educational community is you have so many eyes on a project,” she said. “Even when a student makes an unfortunate decision to copy something in just a very traditional method, plagiarism, it’s pretty easy to spot.”
As for Song, she is also not too concerned with her students passing off AI-generated images as their own because she is already familiar with their work. She’s more worried about the students she hasn’t even had in class yet.
“In admissions, these new students are coming in from high school, from another life that we don’t know,” she said. “I think it could be possible for them to have created a portfolio out of thin air overnight using these generators, depending on how good they become.”
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.
