There is a new addition to the course catalog at Ringling College of Art and Design, a small private art school in Southwest Florida: an undergraduate certificate in artificial intelligence.
In a press release earlier this month, the college said its new program is the first AI certificate of its kind at a college of arts. Other schools across the U.S. offer courses and certificates focused on integrating artificial intelligence and creative work, and educators across the country have already brought the technology into art studios. But critics say introducing AI into art education will not level the playing field for professional artists competing against increasingly sophisticated generative tools.
Ringling’s AI certificate requires students to complete three AI-related courses, including a foundation course and others that use the technology in various artistic disciplines, such as AI techniques and processes for art. In developing the program, the college’s newly appointed AI coordinator, Rick Dakan, kept in mind the cliche: “AI will not replace you, you will be replaced by someone who knows how to use AI.”
Dakan said Hyperallergic He wants students to use technology to raise their level as creative professionals, not to replace their human ingenuity.
Before designing the certificate, Dakan, a creative writing professor, had already begun incorporating generative AI into some of his courses.
“If you’re a good writer, you’ll quickly learn that AI isn’t as good as you at writing,” Dakan said. “But it can help you in the areas where you’re not as good.”
At Indiana University’s (IU) Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture and Design, professors Caleb Weintraub and David Ondrik introduced “AI in the Studio” in spring 2023. Twenty-two students signed up for the inaugural course, at a time that Weintraub described as “the beginning of the hype around generative AI.”
“It was a very hands-on, studio-based course, but there were also components geared toward reflection on impact,” Weintraub said Hyperallergic.
Weintraub and Ondrik challenged their students to find the flaws in generative AI and, in doing so, discover their strengths as artists.
“We had some interest in exploiting glitches,” Weintraub said. “We often like these glitches.” The duo said image generators sometimes had trouble fulfilling students’ artistic requests, and the responses were often “hilarious.”
Ondrik shared photos of some of the final products Hyperallergic. The students satirized eerie, AI-generated images and generative chatbots in their real-life sculptures, photo exhibitions and collages.
For his final project, a mixed-media sculpture by IU student Nathaniel Gottschalk, he used the Midjourney Blend feature to blend digital images with work by Cuban-American artist Ana Mendieta.
“I was very impressed by her work at the time. There were discussions about AI being magic,” said Gottschalk Hyperallergic. “Magic and power and symbols and ritual structures were all things I was obsessed with.”
The course also included discussions about the ethical complications of AI, including gray areas in copyright law. “It’s important to share these concerns with students,” Weintraub said. “All of this data is coming from somewhere, and most of the time people aren’t being compensated for it.”
Last week, a California judge gave a group of illustrators the green light to proceed with a copyright infringement lawsuit against Stability AI, Midjourney, DeviantArt and Runway AI, although he dismissed allegations of unjust enrichment.
Molly Crabapple, a New York illustrator and AI critic, said that art studio programs that incorporate AI serve academic institutions rather than artists. “Anyone can use AI. You don’t have to go to art school and get $200,000 in debt to learn how to put a pulse into a generator,” Crabapple said Hyperallergic.
Crabapple said the programs won’t give artists an advantage over generative tools in the art industry. Artists can “compete” with AI by stigmatizing its use to hinder their advancement, she suggested, citing the backlash against unpopular AI advertising campaigns of late. This month, Google pulled its “Dear Sydney” Olympics ad for Gemini AI after it sparked outrage for turning the plot of a child writing a heartfelt fan letter into an ad for a writing robot.
Weintraub and Ondrik advised their students to disclose the use of AI in their artwork.
“If you use it, you should acknowledge it,” Weintraub said. “Especially if it’s disguised or makes it seem like it could be the work of an individual.”
