Humans Created This
How students and teachers can celebrate their authentic not-by-AI creations.
The excitement about using generative “AI” in K-12 classrooms begs the question, what if students and teachers don’t use it?
Is there a case for not using generative “AI”? If so, how can students and teachers declare their work free of “AI”?
Author’s Note: This post builds on an earlier post about schools and creativity.
The Problem
Reasons that students and teachers should consider sticking to Level 1: No AI of Leon Furze’s AI Assessment Scale include:
Theft of Creative Work
Award-winning concept artist Karla Ortiz explained how generative “AI” steals work and affects creatives during her US Senate testimony (opens PDF) (go to 31:23 of this video):
“Generative AI is unlike any tool that has come before, as it is a technology that uniquely consumes and exploits the innovation of others.1 As I will explain in more detail, Generative AI relies on data it ingests in order to train models and generate its output, and oftentimes, that training data is the work of creative people like myself, taken without our consent, without any credit, and without any compensation. Based on this training data, Generative AI is capable of generating facsimiles of creative people’s work, including my own…. No other tool has the potential to adversely affect the rights of artists and creators. No other tool solely relies on the works of others to generate imagery.” - Karla Ortiz testimony to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, July 7, 2023.
To further illustrate this ethical issue, Univerity of Maryland Information Studies Professor Dr. Katie Shilton said (go to 1:06 of this video):
Generative AI tools are trained on text and images that were created through significant human effort and creativity. After that training workers, many of them poorly paid, are contracted to flag obscene and hateful content to make these systems safe for work and for classrooms. Class activities, in contrast, prioritize students doing their own work.2 Benefiting from unpaid and poorly paid labor in many other people to complete class assignments is ethically fraught. If you're using these tools to make your life easier it's worth thinking about whose lives they made harder.” - Dr. Katie Shelton.
For more information about how creatives are affected by the theft of their work by generative “AI,” please read about the plaintiffs in the image generator litigation.
Generative “AI’s” Low-Quality Output
Generative “AI” is associated with biased and low-quality images and text.
Low-Quality “AI” Images
Generative “AI” image generators struggle to generate fingers, text, and more in images.
The Uncanny Failures of A.I.-Generated Hands by Kyle Chaka for The New Yorker, March 10, 2023.
5 things AI image generators still struggle with by Alan Truly for digitaltrends, May 5, 2023.
If AI image generators are so smart, why do they struggle to write and count? by Seyedali Mirjalili, July 4, 2023.
Why AI Image Generators Struggle to Get Text Right by Matt Growcoot for PetaPixel, March 6, 2024.
Generative “AI” image generators are well-known for generating images amplifying bias.
Humans Are Biased. Generative AI Is Even Worse by Leonardo Nicoletti and Dina Bass for Bloomberg, June 9, 2023.
How AI reduces the world to stereotypes by Victoria Turk for Rest of World, October 10, 2023.
Microsoft engineer warns company’s AI tool creates violent, sexual images, ignores copyrights by Hayden Field for CNBC, March 6, 2024.
Low-Quality “AI” Text
Generative “AI” is often associated with low-quality writing. As journalist Jack Hauen tweeted, “I tried a few different ways to make generative AI help me do journalism and each time the result was so bad it was funny.”
Speaking of humor, comedian Anesti Danelis summed up the problem with AI and writing:
“AI might be able to create a joke structure, but it does not have the ability to pull from personal experience. It lacks a point of view, situational awareness, context, and cultural awareness, which are all necessary to create good comedy.” - Anesti Danelis, in The Spectator, July 29, 2024.
For specific quotes about “AI” and low-quality writing, please see “The Effectiveness of LLM Chatbots For Writing” in my “Pedagogy, Thinking, And The First Draft Or What Teachers Should Consider About AI And Writing” post.
Dislike of Generative “AI”
One reason students and teachers should consider declaring their creations devoid of “AI” is the widespread backlash against it. Washington State University researchers found customers were less likely to purchase a product with “AI.” That means creating without “AI” could be a valuable real-world skill. Ed Newton-Rex, CEO of Fairly Trained, a non-profit that certifies generative AI companies’ fair training data practices, documented examples of this backlash including:
“The Prince Charles Cinema in Soho, London, cancelled a screening of an AI-written film in June, because its regulars vehemently objected.”
“Lego was pressured to take down a series of AI-generated images it published on its website.”
“Doctor Who started experimenting with generative AI, but quickly stopped after a wave of complaints.”
“Amazing. AI companies have me rooting for the damn record labels,” said one composer.”
There is a reason teachers should be especially cautious about incorporating “AI” into instructional and back-to-school materials. As artist Sarah Sumeray tweeted:
“Teenagers have started calling AI art “boomer art” and consider it cringe.”3 - Sarah Sumeray, May 23, 2024.
Award-winning writer and poet Bryan Thao Worra concurred, writing:
“AI art will be largely passe by the end of the year at this rate”4 - Bryan Thao Worra, May 26, 2024.
Replying to Worra, award-winning sketch artist Justin Maas said,
“That’s awesome. I fully expected it to pass but didn’t expect it so quickly. The overall backlash is very much welcomed.”5 - Justin Maas, May 27, 2024.
"Boomer Art" denigrates a generation of people to make a point, which is not great. However, teachers should consider if they want to start the school year with students eye-rolling AI-generated materials.
🏅🏅🏅 Lastly, for some Olympics-themed “AI” backlash, here are some articles about Google’s widely-panned “Dear Sydney” ad in which a father asks Gemini to generate a letter to Olympian Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone for his daughter. The ad is so unpopular Google turned off YouTube comments. Dan Meyer wrote, “I get no points for hating this ad. Everyone hates it.”
Dear Google, who wants an AI-written fan letter? by Anthony Ha for TechCrunch, July 28, 2024.
Why Google’s “Dear Sydney” Ad Makes Me Want to Scream by Shelly Palmer, July 28, 2024.
Google turns off comments on widely reviled Olympics ad for AI by Stephen Council for SF Gate, July 29, 2024.
Everyone Hates That Google AI Olympics Commercial by Matt Stieb for New York Magazine, July 29, 2024.
The antithesis of the Olympics: Using AI to write a fan letter by Linda Holmes for NPR, July 30, 2024.
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Celebrating Authentic Creations
So how can students and teachers avoid “AI” backlash, honor creativity, and celebrate when they abstain from using “AI,” as Nintendo does when creating?
Created With Human Intelligence Badge
I learned about the “Created with Human Intelligence” badge from these articles:
‘Human Intelligence’ Art Movement Takes Defiant Stand Against AI by Leslie Katz for Forbes, July 17, 2024.
All artists should start using this ‘Created with Human Intelligence’ badge by Jesus Diaz for Fast Company, July 24, 2024.
The badge is the creation of artist Beth Spencer. She shared the badge in multiple colors in this Substack post:
The badge comes in 8 colors and an animated GIF version:
Downloading any badge is as simple as clicking the image and right-clicking to “Save image as.” Spencer said users can “Download for free. Post with or without credit.”
Spencer invited the public to make their version of the badge and post it to Instagram, tagging her and adding the hashtag #hibadge2024. The creations are beautiful. Imagine your students creating their own Made with Human Intelligence badge after learning about the issues with generative “AI.”
Not By AI Badge
Another option to declare creations free of AI is the “Not by AI” badge. I include the badge in my posts and presentation slide decks:
The Not by AI badge site has separate badges for writers, musicians, and visual artists. One drawback is that badges download as .zip files, adding some complications.
🌍 Attention World Language and EL Teachers: Not by AI badges are available in 30 languages.
Create Don’t Scrape Fair Use Checklist
Finally, introduce students to fair use and Creative Commons professional image sites such as Unsplash, Pexels, and Nappy.
Create Don’t Scrape created a Fair Use Checklist that helps creatives, including students and teachers, determine if their use of copyrighted material falls under fair use.
🌐 Special Bonus: My New Website
Thank you for reading this far. As a special thank you,6 here is my new website. I plan on publicly launching it on Monday but for now, check out the site including a page detailing the services I provide to school districts.
Continue The Conversation
What do you think? How will you and your students celebrate authentic creations? Comment below or Tweet me at @TomEMullaney.
Does your school or conference need a tech-forward educator who critically examines “AI” and pedagogy? Reach out on Twitter or email mistermullaney@gmail.com.
Blog Post Image: The blog post image is a mashup of two images. The background is Whiteboard by dalton00 from Getty Images Signature. “Created with Human Intelligence” is Human Intelligence Badge by Beth Spencer.
AI Disclosure:
I wrote this post without the use of any generative AI. That means:
I developed the idea for the post without using generative AI.
I wrote an outline for this post without the assistance of generative AI.
I wrote the post using the outline without the use of generative AI.
I edited this post without the assistance of any generative AI. I used Grammarly to assist in editing the post. I have Grammarly GO turned off.
There are no generative AI-generated images in this post.
Bold formatting was added by Tom.
Bold formatting was added by Tom.
Bold formatting was added by Tom.
Bold formatting was added by Tom.
Bold formatting was added by Tom.
Our definitions of “special thank you” may differ.
Excellent, couldn't agree more! In terms of stealing, no joke! I discovered one of my publishers, Routledge, sold out to AI. $10 million to start with! Writers = $0. See my post below. Also see my Substack newsletter about the human qualities of scholars.
https://salmons.blog/2024/08/05/routledge-sells-out-authors-to-ai/