WE ARE ONLY LOOKING FOR SIGNATURES, PLEASE IGNORE THE DONATION PROMPT AFTER SIGNING 

WE DO NOT SUPPORT THE VANDALISM INCIDENTS ON CAMPUS

Students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County have become increasingly concerned regarding the usage of generative AI in Visual Arts classes. This petition was made to show UMBC faculty that students do not want this to be the future of Visual Arts classes.

There is no doubt that generative AI is a form of plagiarism, which UMBC has a strict policy against. Most generative AI models are fed and then trained on images from the internet without the permission or acknowledgment of the original creators. The products of AI image generation are simply amalgamations of this scraped data, thus making it a direct form of plagiarism.

The use of AI writing tools, such as ChatGPT, is prohibited in most courses—the use of which will often lead to an automatic grade of zero and a report to the Academic Misconduct Reporting Database. However, with visual art classes, students have been assigned projects that require the use of generative AI, and these have been displayed publicly in the Fine Arts building.

AI image generation leaves no room for personal expression or creative thought. Aside from the initial prompt, every aspect of the creative process and final product is determined by an AI model. Requiring the use of this technology eliminates opportunities for students to challenge themselves creatively.

 We are aware of the recent vandalism of the AI projects hanging in the Fine Arts building, and we understand that disruption of student work is wrong. However, the response from the Visual Arts Department Chair Gary Rozanc regarding this incident was extremely unprofessional, as Rozanc made an analogy between the vandalism and the actions of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. This comparison was completely unwarranted and offensive. A full screenshot of Rozanc’s response email will be provided below.

https://postimg.cc/Z0rcNd47