“AI isn’t art” is a sentiment that has been held among artists across the internet for some time. These three words scribbled onto an assignment sheet hanging in the hallway of University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC)’s Fine Arts building caused quite a stir among faculty, leading to a reactionary email from the visual arts department chair, Gray Roznac. This email, sent on November 14 2024, sparked a conversation between students and faculty of the arts department.
The display, part of an ART 484 class, depicts several prints of student’s works created by AI meant to be used as a concept sketch for their final semester projects. This installment was only the second phase in a semester-long project where in the final stage of the project, students would take the AI-generated image, and use it as inspiration, to create their own, original work.
Across most departments at UMBC, the use of AI for homework assignments is seen as plagiarism. Riley Heath, a junior double major in Animation and Gender & Women’s Studies, and creator of the “UMBC Artists Speak Up” Discord server stated “I believe it is a violation of UMBC’s academic integrity policy, plain and simple. AI training involves non-consensually scraping the internet for works that are not going to be credited so easily if it takes hundreds of images to make one viable, ‘clean’ image.”
On top of this, many students see AI generated art as lazy. When all you need to do is tell a computer to do your work for you, why do anything yourself? Brian Yoon, a 2022 computer science graduate, and co-founder of the UMBC art club commented:
“What happens is that people start using it to do things like hey do my homework for me. Hey, write this story for me, come up with ideas for me and I feel like those kinds of things if you rely too hard on them weaken your ability to critically think, and they weaken your ability to use your imagination.”
Other students share this sentiment, claiming that not only is AI art lazy, it also isn’t human. By making a computer do all of the work, the human element, that makes art meaningful, is being removed from the equation.
Students have also expressed concerns about AI’s impact on the environment. In an article from AP News, Microsoft revealed that their water consumption increased 34 percent between 2021 and 2022 likely because of their AI research. Similarly, Google revealed that their water consumption increased 20 percent around the same time.
While students are upset that professors and department heads would allow the use of AI in the classroom, there is no policy at UMBC regarding AI according to Corrie Parks, associate chair of the Visual Arts Department at UMBC.
Parks mentioned that there is a committee working towards creating a policy, but these things take time. Other institutions such as the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) do not have AI policies either, but are also working on developing one.
Gary Roznac, the chair of UMBC’s visual arts department claimed that although UMBC is working on creating an AI policy, it will ultimately be up to each individual department and professor to determine how to approach and teach topics around AI in the classroom.
The Ringling College of Art and Design does have an AI policy that views AI as a tool to assist artists and not simply the final result. “While we recognize the potential powerful impact of AI, we firmly believe that human creativity and artistic vision are irreplaceable.” Ringling still prioritizes the teaching of traditional art skills, but also offers optional AI courses for those interested in learning more about how to best utilize this new technology as a tool.
The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) has a similar AI policy, claiming that it is a tool with lots of potential if used correctly. According to this policy, MICA faculty members are free to teach AI as much or as little as they wish; however, the school recognizes that AI art does not count as entirely the student’s own work, and students must be responsible for ensuring the work generated does not violate any intellectual property rights.
UMBC’s visual arts department’s opinion on the use of AI is roughly the same. AI is everywhere. It has wriggled its way into our phones, our computers, chat bots on websites, photoshop tools, and so much more. Timothy Nohe, the instructor who created the assignment that sparked this conversation said. “We need to prepare students for this change moment because the change can’t be resisted, because the change is so rapid, and that we do our students a disservice by not wrestling with the ethics around these tools.”
According to Nohe, he discussed ethical concerns regarding AI with students, and made this stage of the assignment entirely optional. If students felt strongly about using computer generated images, they could be “conscientious objectors.”
While students were justifiably upset, not only by the art on display, but also because of Roznac’s angry email, the display lacked the context needed to fully understand what was being shown. The work pinned up in the hallway of the Fine Arts building is a work in progress, and not the final product.
Now the question is: why display unfinished work? Anne Arundel County arts professor Akash Vasishta explained that “Usually work in progress is not seen. I never show that stuff, and nobody should see it.”
Context is everything. Vasishta explained later that the video game studio, Cyan, that he used to work for was criticized for using AI in their game, Firmament, without fully understanding where and how the AI was used. “Stating that we used AI, but not stating the context I think that just muddied the waters and made it really confusing.”
While this situation may not have a clear solution, UMBC faculty recognize that art students are dissatisfied with AI being taught in their classes. “It’s going to be evolving because right now, obviously, students are upset.” Roznac said. “We do plan to talk to the students. To talk through more of this stuff and get a sense of where they feel on it.”
Olivia Zachman is a senior English major and editor for The Retriever.
Contact Olivia at z59@umbc.edu
