Generative AI in Art and Design Courses

By Robert Baird, CITL Senior Associate Director

Part 1: Generative AI as Design Collaborator

Please check out Part 1 of our panel discussionwith three Illinois instructors who have smartly incorporated GenAI into their art and design and game studies courses. Jena Marble, Angelica Sibrian, and Michael Curtin are early adopters of GenAI in their teaching, in large part due to the quick adoption and advancement of GenAI among professional designers and game developers. Through the experience of crafting assignments and mentoring their students, these teachers offer strategies for embracing the opportunities (and avoiding the pitfalls) of GenAI in the classroom.

For Jena Marble, Clinical Assistant Professor Art and Design, “These [AI] tools are in our workflows now . . . I think it would be a great disservice not to teach our students how to use them.” As a practicing designer, Jena believes that freelance and small design teams will benefit from GenAI as a “design collaborator,” helping with diverse tasks such as billing, copy writing, and other needs.

For Michael Curtin, Game Studies and Design, and member of the campus Generative AI Solutions Hub, GenAI recalls previous instances of disruptive new technologies that have forced us to identify “silver linings” and unintended consequences. For example, the birth of photography disrupted classical portrait painting, yet it also led to expanding opportunities for portrait photography. Consequently, many Civil War era families were able to document their sons and fathers as they went off to war due to the affordability and accessibility of the new photographic medium.

For Angelica Sibrian, Teaching Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and Design for Responsible Innovation, GenAI amplifies contemporary concerns around bias and social justice, intellectual property rights and labor practices, and the need for artists to own and control their own work.

Part 2: Navigating GenAI Pitfalls and Possibilities

In Part 2 of our panel discussion, Angelica, Michael and Jena celebrate the wealth of physical, human, and analog resources available to instructors and students at the University of Illinois. From the Krannert Performing Arts Center to our libraries and librarians and our entomology collections and the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, our instructors introduce their students to what Michael calls the “visual ecosystem” that is the University of Illinois. For these teachers the Illinois visual ecosystem serves as a necessary real-world contrast and complement to the digital and virtual AI ecosystem.

Another significant theme for each instructor is the need to “keep the human in the loop.” By encouraging their students to avoid settling for the frequently-mundane output of GenAI tools the instructors hope to help students identify their own winding path and to embrace the ideal of “failing your way to an outcome.” For each of our instructors their students’ journeys, discoveries, personal development and acquisition of skills dominate their teaching practices.<

And, just for fun, watch for the enthusiastic shout outs to Ricker Librarian Siobhan McKissic and playful reference to Luke Starkiller (hint: a name drawn from a famous film script in the Rare Book and Manuscript library).

Part 3: To Use and Not to Use GenAI

In Part 3 of our panel discussion Angelica, Michael and Jena offer examples of their own use of GenAI for design work, art, career and life. Most intriguing is how each of our guests refuses to use AI at certain times and in various places. As designer-artists, our three guests are highly protective of their own creative process and personally committed to keeping the human in control of their work.

Resources:

Michael Curtin, Game Studies and Design

Michael’s Web Site

Jena Marble, Clinical Assistant Professor Art and Design

Jena’s Web Site

Marble, J. (2024). Human-Centered AI: By Ben Shneiderman, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2022, 400pp. ISBN: 9780192845290. $26.99. Design and Culture, 1–3.

Angelica Sibrian, Teaching Assistant Professor of Graphic Design

Angelica’s Web Site

Office of the Provost Generative AI Solutions Hub: Generative AI Best Practices

The “Best Practices in Teaching and Learning” page is an excellent, quick review that reinforces many of the key points from this interview, including the emphasis on “Keeping Humans in an Active Role” to how AI should complement creativity, and not replace it.