On April 20th, the School of Visual Arts NYC announced the establishment of an “AI Working Group” to “lead research and the application of best [AI] practices and opportunities across the curriculum.” While SVA claims to “prioritize human intelligence,” as per their announcement email, establishing a group dedicated to implementing Generative AI into SVA’s curriculum is a direct violation of the wishes of the student body, and a complete disrespect to the population of artists on campus.

Wasting student tuition money on the research and implementation of artificial intelligence, a looming threat to the very generation of working artists SVA promises to uplift, is abhorrent, disrespectful, and unethical.
As a result, we are petitioning to abolish the SVA AI Working Group and ban the use of Generative AI in SVA’s curriculum. With enough signatures, we are hoping that SVA will recognize the offense it has committed against its student body and change its extremely harmful practices and policies.