Over the next couple of months I’ll be speaking with teachers across the disciplines to understand how they’re using Generative AI in their subject areas. I’ve recently published a series on Generative AI Strategy for Faculty Leaders, and I believe it’s incredibly important to understand the different implications of the technology in a range of disciplines.
In this first post, I’ve asked Visual Communication Design teacher Melissa Avery for some of her thoughts on Generative AI.
What are some of the best ways you’ve seen GenAI used in your subject area?
I am constantly inspired by the beauty of different perspectives, and find myself drawn to the work of GenAI Artists and Designers who are using it to explore diverse perspectives, challenge societal norms, and imagine alternative realities. The work of Rozemarlin Borkent is a great example of this, and she describes her work as ‘letting people experience the beauty of diversity’.
GenAI can be a great tool for students who are still developing their creative thinking. It is a tool which quickly demonstrates how one might visually push boundaries and imagine extreme possibilities, this could be quite helpful for students who are stuck in very literal modes of thinking. It could also help students build descriptive language skills as they strive to provide better prompts for their image generation.
How could students explore GenAI?
3D Modelling: Make high quality 3D models, creating realistic textures, patterns, and shapes. Bring in materials, lighting, and shading to refine a concept for presentation.
Architecture and interior Design: Generate architectural renderings and interior designs as a reference point to explore options and communicate their ideas to clients.
Concept Art + Style: Provide references, offer unique styles and perspectives, fuse different styles/genres/techniques and facilitate the creation of new ideas.
Fashion/Character Design Concepts: Generate a variety of styles, shapes, outfits, colour palettes and physical features based on set parameters.
AI analytics: Data-driven insights into user behaviour, trends, and preferences.
Other Influences/Recommended Resources:
https://www.instagram.com/promptmagazine.ai/
https://www.instagram.com/digitalaiartmuseum/
What are some of the subject-specific challenges presented by GenAI?
Opening creative doors into the unknown! AI has the potential for revolutionary experiences and capabilities to improve the ways that we will live, connect and play, however for this vision of the future to succeed, it requires a strong foundation of trust and responsible design.
In the Visual Arts, Generative AI, unlike general AI, focuses on creating new and unique content and there are still a lot of unanswered questions about how this is ethically achieved. I am still exploring how my students can engage and work appropriately with AI within their folios, while reflecting on my own position and values.
Ethical and Legal considerations
Perhaps one of the biggest concerns from the creative arts sector is the method of ‘scraping internet information‘ to “Teach” AI and the inevitable concern over copyright and ownership of GenAI output.
Engaging students in discussion, practicing critical thinking, and looking at case studies exploring what is happening in the industry is a crucial step for students to become informed and empowered to make a conscious decision on whether they want to use GenAI as part of their creative process.
Exploring GenAI in licensed programs such as the Adobe suite may be a good starting point, as reading through the Adobe Generative AI User Guidelines is a great way to engage students in thinking about their moral, ethical and legal responsibilities.
In a recent online forum titled “The future of AI” the Design Institute of Australia (DIA) explored this topic in more detail and provided resources with both practical and legal advice. I highly recommend anyone considering the use of AI explore these and similar resources.
There is a positive and negative side to all technologies, and it entirely depends on intent, and the way people use and interact with it. Like any digital technology, designers using GenAI should have an understanding of how the images and long language models are coded or tagged. The LLM behind current iterations of AI can be problematic and full of limitations and biases, so I would prompt my students to consider this when engaging with and reflecting on generated imagery.
What advice would you give to faculty leaders in your subject area about GenAI?
Authentication and assessment: It would be strange to ignore the potential of AI, considering the world our students will be entering as artists and designers, and the technologies they will incorporate into their future practice. So a hard ‘no’ to its inclusion in their folios doesn’t’t seem wise, and yet, there needs to be evidence of the student’s own skill development and generation of original ideas.
I operate from the perspective that student learning is the central purpose of our assessment practices. I acknowledge that AI can both assist and undermine student learning, depending on how we frame its use, and from the beginning of a task, strive to provide students with clear guidelines around what is acceptable. Teachers within the creative arts need more support and guidance from stakeholders like the VCAA on how students can ethically engage with GenAI content and the way this intersects with assessment and authentication. Reach out and ask the important questions. Develop an acceptable use policy which considers the use of GenAI within your school.
Get excited about the possibilities: AI can push the boundaries of traditional artistic practices, encourage students to engage in critical thinking asking questions like: What am I going to do with this? I like it, it’s interesting, I’m curious about it, but what’s it for? Where can it lead me? The AI process allows for artificial serendipity — finding those happy accidents and novel ideas that normally take time to stumble upon. A good resource for students to see the different types of GenAI and their applications is https://aiartists.org/ , there is a particularly interesting section with Examples, Software and Tools to Make GenAI Algorithm Art.
How can students acknowledge the use of AI?
At this stage, I am encouraging my students to identify any GenAI work in their process as a collaborative work of a particular human author assisted by the GenAI, and outline the human contributions to the total work.
In this scenario, I would expect the GenAI output to be further refined creatively by the human through seeking iterative changes, which becomes the human contribution. For an artistic work this could be done by further word prompts to the GenAI program to refine results, or touch ups done directly to the visual output by the artist. Here the artistic directives and direction are much more the result of the human involved with the AI.
What advice would you give to students?
Never stop being curious, follow your fun, embrace a lifetime of learning.
Ultimately, within an educational setting we seek to cultivate future-ready designers, students who are reflective, responsible and empathetic practitioners equipped with agency and initiative. Focusing on short-term skills is only temporarily relevant, instead knowledge that transcends the rapidly changing context of current practices should be emphasised.
Necessary Design Skills for future designers:
- Adaptability: Be adaptable and able to pivot quickly in response to changing technologies, trends, and user needs.
- Digital Literacy: Proficiency in design software, coding languages, and emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI).
- Collaboration: Strong collaboration and communication skills to work effectively with multidisciplinary teams.
- Critical Thinking: Strong critical thinking skills to analyse problems, evaluate solutions, and make informed design decisions.
- Good Design: Future designers must integrate sustainable design practices into their work. Understanding principles of eco-design, circular design, and material innovation.
- Ethical Design: Consider the ethical implications of their work and prioritize ethical design practices. Upholding principles of inclusivity, diversity, accessibility, and social responsibility.
Ask yourself:
How do I feel about the use of AI, how does this align with my values?
Does the use of GenAI add to what I am doing or detract from it?
Is it good design?
Anything else you’d like to add on behalf of your subject?
For me? Next steps?
- Remain excited about the possibilities.
- Engage in play with AI to discover new techniques, styles, and approaches to art-making
- Share with students what I have discovered and encourage them to share their experiences in return
- Continually have conversations with students about the seductiveness of the programs and the cool things they do
- Have the hard conversations around ethics and “when is it not my work”, invite students to engage with decisions on when it is and isn’t appropriate for use.
- Provide students with guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI within their work
- Keep learning, reading, researching and getting involved in what the latest tech has to offer
The AIGA has some great resources on the Future of Design, in particular Meredith Davis discussion on Technology and its outsized role in shaping the industry is worth a read as many of the recent changes to the VCD study design align with the content of this paper.
Acknowledgements & further resources
Learning AI Recommendations:
Midjourney: https://www.midjourney.com/ & https://docs.midjourney.com/
Theoretically Media: https://www.youtube.com/@TheoreticallyMedia
Futurepedia: https://www.youtube.com/@futurepedia_io
Matt Wolfe: https://www.youtube.com/@mreflow
AIGA resources, specifically Meredith Davis – Introduction to Design Futures
https://www.aiga.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/introduction-to-design-futures.pdf
DIA resources, “Tell me what to think: The future of AI” & Practice Note 307 2023 written by James Samargis, IP Barrister and DIA Independent Board Director
https://www.design.org.au/events/tell-me-what-to-think-the-future-of-ai
https://www.design.org.au/store/p/generative-ai-and-agi-artificial-general-intelligence
Examples of GenAI: https://aiartists.org/
Thank you to my mentor’s Jacinta Patterson and Emma Rickards for their valuable insights and guidance on helping me to organise my thoughts on this topic – Melissa Avery
If you’d like to share your thoughts on generative AI in your subject area, then please get in touch via the contact form below!
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