The use of generic AI for creative purposes has sparked a major backlash. From game developers battling a wave of criticism for their use of the technology to artists holding massive protests against AI, the backlash against what is being hailed as a technological revolution grew massively last year.
In a strikingly literal example of this growing rage, a graduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks was detained after “tearing artwork off the walls and eating it in an alleged protest,” according to a statement from the university police department. Quoted by the school’s student newspaper, Sun Star.
Student Graham Granger was accused of chewing up and spitting out small images pasted to the wall of a UAF art exhibit that displayed 160 AI-generated images by fine arts student Nick Dwyer. Photos taken by Sun Star Show pieces of paper scattered on a polished concrete floor.
According to the police department, Granger chewed through at least 57 of the 160 images. As a result, the graduate student was “arrested for Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree and booked into the Fairbanks Correctional Center,” according to the student newspaper.
It’s another example of how anti-AI sentiment is taking over the art world, igniting heated debates over human authorship and expression in a world full of text-to-image generators that can do the job in an instant with a simple gesture.
Dwyer has since defended his work, stating Sun Star He has been using AI for his art since 2017. He said his performance “explores the fabrication of false memories of identity, character narrative construction and relationships in a digitally crafted interactive role-play before, during and after an AI psychotic state.”
The term “AI psychosis” has been used by health professionals to describe a disturbing phenomenon in which users of AI tools are experiencing symptoms of psychosis or delusional episodes. Experts have expressed concern over this trend and warned that more and more people could fall into these illusions as they become addicted to AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
In severe cases, these devices have been alleged to have caused the deaths of several people, including the suicide of a 16-year-old boy.
Dwyer said Sun Star That he himself had fallen into AI psychosis, and turned to art to depict the experience.
The art world has been grappling with a flood of AI-generated creations for years. We’ve seen examples of artists being accused of misusing the technology, while others on the subreddit were criticized by users. AI defending artArguing that this is a perfectly legitimate way to express oneself.
A similar situation is playing out in the music industry, where music streaming services are hosting cheap AI knockoffs of real artists’ works.
This week, music distribution platform Bandcamp announced it was banning AI-generated songs – a move that was met with overwhelming support.
More on anti-AI sentiment: AI backlash grows massive in 2025
