Art Student Arrested for Eating AI-Generated Art in Protest

Artists and other creatives (not to mention, ahem, journalists) have been deeply concerned about the way their work is being exploited by tech companies to fuel AI-driven image and text generators. In 2023, several digital artists filed class-action lawsuits against Stability AI, Midjourney, and image-sharing platform DeviantArt, while others filed suit against online retailer Shein, accusing it of stealing their designs. Yes, such lawsuits won small victories in the courts in 2024, but many people feel powerless to stop their products from being endlessly stolen.

An undergraduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has apparently found a way to fight back against artificial intelligence-generated art that no one else seems to have thought of. According to The New York Times , Graham Granger, a student in the school’s film and performing arts program, saw some of MFA student Nick Dwyer’s AI-generated art and promptly ate it in protest. sun stara student paper.

“Granger claimed, according to the university police report, that he destroyed the artwork because it was generated by artificial intelligence,” the paper’s Lizzy Hahn wrote, adding, “In his artist statement about the destroyed exhibition, Dwyer said his work ‘explores identity, character narrative creation, and false relational memories in digitally produced interactive characters before, during, and after artificial intelligence psychosis.’” AI psychosis is not a clinical diagnosis but a widely discussed phenomenon. psychology todayare the result of deep engagement with chatbots that reinforce “delusions of grandiosity, reference, persecution, and romance.”

Granger was charged Wednesday with criminal mischief causing damage under $250, a Class B misdemeanor, according to the Alaska court system. The presiding judge is Maria P. Bahr.

The exhibition, which includes Dwyer’s work “It’s Not Scary,” opens Jan. 23 at the UAF Art Gallery and also features fellow MFA candidates Sarah Dexter, Amy Edler, Iris Sutton and Matthew Wooller.

Judging from Hahn’s photos, the artwork consists of small Polaroid-style images pinned to the wall. Hahn wrote that police estimated that at least 57 of the 160 photos were destroyed. The works are labeled on the walls, credited to Dwyer and AI, and the installation is titled Shadow Search: ChatGPT Psychosis (2025).

“When you make art, you become vulnerable, and therefore the artwork is vulnerable, which makes it seem more alive or more real or in the moment,” Dwyer told The New York Times. sun star.

Dwyer, Granger, the university and university police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.