In a bizarre news, an art student in Alaska literally ate an AI artwork by another student to protest against it.
The incident happened last week at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, where the exhibition “This Is Not Awful” is being displayed until January 23rd. One of the displayed works belonged to Nick Dwyer, a Master of Fine Arts student at the university. Titled “Shadow Searching: ChatGPT psychosis“, the work consisted of 160 Polaroid-style images arranged in 5 rows.
The images sought to explain a phenomenon called “AI psychosis”, where deep dependency on AI tools like ChatGPT causes psychological issues among people. However, another student did not like the fact that the images themselves were created using AI. However, Graham Granger found a rather curious way of protesting against it – by eating the images themselves. Reportedly, 57 – a third – of the images were either wholly or partially destroyed. Granger was later produced in a court in Alaska and charged with criminal mischief.
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Speaking about the incident, Dwyer later said: “When you make art, you become vulnerable and so the artwork is vulnerable and that’s something that makes it seem more alive or more real or in the moment.” While bizarre, this is only the latest in the ever-intensifying battle between AI and art. Artists have been seeking various measures, including legal, against AI companies for training models on their artworks without consent or compensation. The widespread use of AI art is also threatening the survival or human artists.
