University of Alaska Fairbanks student protests against AI-generated art about AI psychosis
On Jan. 13, a University of Alaska Fairbanks student was arrested for ripping down, chewing, and spitting out another student’s art exhibit, due to the fact it was made using generative artificial intelligence (AI). The student, Graham Granger, was charged with criminal mischief in the fifth degree, and was later released from the Fairbanks Correctional Center. Granger, an undergraduate film and performance arts major, called his actions a combination of protest and performance art against the use of AI generated art. In an interview with The Nation, his argument was AI “chews up and spits out art made by other people,” just as Granger chewed up and spat out the exhibition. When asked about his opinions on AI, Granger said that he thinks AI is a “valuable tool” but has “no place in the arts” because of the “human effort that makes art”.
The use of AI in artwork is a highly debated topic, especially in the fine arts scene. The rise of generative AI allows for people to create artistic pieces through prompting AI, which generates the prompted piece using artwork from the internet. There is much controversy over whether these pieces are real art made by real artists or are plagiarising the artists’ whose work was used to generate them.
The later chewed up art installation was made by Masters of Art candidate Nick Dwyer, who AI generated a set of 160 Polaroid photos. The exhibition was called “Shadow Searching: ChatGPT psychosis,” and according to Dwyer, was meant to explore what he called his battle with AI psychosis. AI psychosis, or chatbot psychosis, is a phenomenon involving the psychosis-like effects that occur after heavy engagement with chatbots like ChatGPT. According to Psychology Today, AI chatbots can reinforce delusions, which can lead to users experiencing “grandiose, referential, persecutory, and romantic delusions”. The phenomenon is still under-researched and is not a clinical diagnosis. Dwyer self-identified to Student Nation as struggling with AI psychosis, including falling in love with the chatbot.
The wall displaying the installation also had a label crediting both Dwyer and AI. Dwyer reportedly started to collaborate with AI in his artwork in around 2017 or 2018, who said he is since trying to “wean” off ChatGPT after his personal experience with AI psychosis. While Dwyer said Granger’s actions “would have been an awesome performance piece that literally encapsulates the problem with AI art and artists,” he initially pressed charges against Granger for the destruction of his artwork, and the violation of the art gallery. He has since dropped charges in favour of the state pursuing the case.
The event itself was just earlier this month, when Granger decided to eat the AI Polaroids. A witness who reported to The Nation said, “He was tearing [the Polaroids] up and just shoving them in [his mouth] as fast as he could.” Of the 150 Polaroids, Granger ate around 57, swallowing some of it and spitting some out. Eaten along with them was Dwyer’s artist statement, which said his project was meant to “explore identity, character narration creation and crafting false memories of relationships in an interactive role digitally crafted before, during, and after a state of AI psychosis.” The overall damages cost around US$220.