The University of Florida recently added an AI certificate within the College of the Arts that has received conflicting responses from students and local artists.
Heidi Boisvert, an associate professor of AI and the Arts within the School of Theatre and Dance, said the certificate is lacking in enrollment despite the growing integration of AI throughout the university.
Students question how the integration of AI into the artistic world will impact artists, especially in the traditional dance and theatre space.
“It is mostly a lot of fear,” Boisvert said. “They don’t understand how this relates to what they’re doing.”
This fear can stem from generative AI programs like ChatGPT that encourage quick, easy solutions or cutting corners, she said. Platforms like these create preconceived notions of AI jobs and people will be replaced with the use of AI tools.
“We say AI, and it is this big umbrella term, but there are many different algorithmic structures or methodologies and models under that,” she said.
AI is also being integrated in more companies and workspaces. Despite this, Boisvert said she still interacts with coworkers who claim they don’t understand how this relates to their work specifically in the traditional dance and theatre space.
“They will eventually see how it’s going to be changing their fields,” she said.
To begin to dispel the fear in artists, Boisvert grounds them in history.
“There is a long history of artificial intelligence that goes back to the 1950s,” she said. “Post World War II we had something called on the Macy conferences on cybernetics.”
Boisvert said the Macy Conference brought together behavioral scientists, psychologists, social scientists and mathematicians to discuss cybernetics, which led to theories on communication and control.
The conversation of AI and its history is becoming more familiar within the university, but it is just beginning withing the Alachua County Arts Council.
The art council’s conversation was conflicting with strong feelings on opposing ends on the use of AI.
The seven council members decided they need to revise the definition of art intending to protect the integrity of original artwork , but are at a halt due to unknown knowledge of the AI tools.
Gina Peebles, the assistant county manager, said the council will resurface this conversation April 25 at its artist conference.
A panel discussion about AI has been added to the schedule with the hopes to craft a well- rounded definition that includes the community and integration of AI, Peebles said.
While some student and artist communities lack knowledge of AI tools beyond widely known platforms, there are people with a desire to learn and befriend the technology.
Tessa Register, an architectural design master’s student working with Boisvert, sees this certificate as an opportunity for herself as an artist.
“I think understanding and embracing technology and figuring out how to use it in ways that really support you as an individual is the best way to empower yourself as an artist,” she said.
Artificial intelligence programs are dependent on who controls them. This is where Register’s main concern lies.
“I do still fear AI in the hands of certain people that use it to control people,” Register said. “But when it comes to being an artist, you should always be wanting to learn more about things that can help you with your process.”
Caren Hackman, 68, says she is eager to learn more about AI as a local artist.
“Am I able to join these classes being offered within the school?” she asked.
The integration of AI is still a learning curve for artists. Workshops, panel discussions and council meetings are opening the conversation up more to continue to learn what this means for artists in the future.
The certificate is still in the process of continuous growth. Boisvert has a vision of extending the certificate to have its own building with research labs in the next few years. But, it is in the hands of others as she waits for funding.
The National Endowment for the Humanities will reveal if the AI and the Arts department will receive funding around the month of July, she said.
“We are in the process of developing the Center for AI, Arts and Society,” Boisvert said. “It would also house the creation of professional development workshops across each of the units to educate other faculty and staff on how these technologies are going to disrupt or change their fields.”