If you were to go to the school’s webpage, you would see a slide on the homepage of a Native American chief holding a football. In the background of the slide are the words “CHIEF NATION”, with a black box in the foreground displaying the text “Support Your Chiefs!” What should have stuck with me was the message to support the school’s community, but instead, the only thing I could think of was the chief himself. His headdress’s feathers were melded together and almost looked like they were melting. His face paint had an inconsistent texture that began and disappeared in random places. It was clear to me that the image was made with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
AI-generated products are abundant around the school. From things as small as posters you walk by every day to the theme song on the morning news; it’s difficult to avoid any sort of AI product. With the uprising and improvement of AI over the past few years, its presence has become increasingly inescapable, which is more upsetting due to its harmful traits. It has the potential to take many jobs from humans and can cause many negative consequences for the environment due to its large amount of energy consumption.
Since I started watching the school news, I found it weird that their intro and outro songs were AI-generated. Our school has a choir and a wide range of talented people waiting to show off their skills, but the people in charge of the news decided to get AI to generate the theme songs. The two songs are meant to celebrate school spirit and the achievements of students, and the usage of AI for them takes away the purpose of these songs. William Stetson of Chiefs TV explains that “the only uses of AI [in Chiefs 360] are in the intro and outro songs.” Though the use of minimal AI is preferable, the usage of none would be ideal.
Around the school, there are also a lot of posters promoting different clubs, with some having an extra amount of irony attached to them. The posters around the school promoting creatively driven programs can be found proudly showcasing AI art, which is characterized by visual inconsistencies and out-of-place objects in the generated image. While these posters aren’t specifically advertising a graphic design or artistic club, using art created by students, or humans in general, would make it more welcoming to students. The usage of AI art makes the club feel detached from its creatively driven purpose.
The constant usage of AI could also have a large negative effect on students. Though the school embraces AI in graphics and on the morning news, students are typically warned against using AI for its harmful effects on the environment and the possible over-reliance on it. The school’s “do as I say, not as I do” attitude surrounding AI could possibly drain students, especially with how often AI is used around the building.
Students may also see the school’s usage of AI as an excuse to use AI themselves. Students using AI to do assignments for them is already a huge issue, but the school using AI gives students the opportunity to use the school’s habit as an excuse to follow in their footsteps and use AI. While asking AI for assistance isn’t too big of an issue, relying on AI too much could lead to possible laziness or lack of energy from repeated stress from students who use it.
As AI improves and gets more normalized, more people will be tempted to use it in place of human-made art. It’s faster, more reliable, and more convenient overall. But AI has no soul, which is a huge issue when it comes to generating products for things that focus on soul and human creativity: supporting your community, artistic clubs, and interacting with those around you. Human activities should be promoted and supported by humans, not by computers that can’t participate in having heart and soul.
