Article and Photo by Taylor Papagno, Photo has been edited in Photoshop
A False Photo: AI Affecting More Than You Know
Artificial Intelligence has become prevalent in the school world, but it has also made its way into the art world. AI can be used to digitally alter your image or work, to add something completely new in it.
There are countless different editing tools to help you enhance your art, to make it the best that it can be. Art classes in our school train the students on the software and how to use it to enhance the quality of your image.
But since its release, about a year ago, generative fill (or AI assistance) has sparked many questions and conversations. Because of its different uses, this new generative fill lives in a large gray area that has the art department and school systems puzzled.
“So AI is being used right now in photography specifically in that you can remove objects and remove parts of your image,” Djordjevic, photography teacher, said. “It’s actually pulling from all of the imagery that is out on the internet right now.”
All students have access to this tool with their school issued Adobe account and the use of Photoshop. Adobe has been trying to set their generative fill to only pull from their stock photos ensuring their artists were paid for their work, but this isn't a solution to in class use. There are ways to alter your image without it becoming a whole new picture.
There are also ways to seamlessly take media and add it onto your own photos, thus it becomes not fully yours. This can be justified in real world situations, but it gets problematic when turned in for a grade in class.
“So it's a very tricky spot because I think that you need to be careful about how much of the image is actually yours” Djordjevic says,
In an academic (non art) setting, the use of AI is strictly prohibited. You are not allowed to generate any of your writing and pass it off as your own. In addition to those, there have been newer rules created, allowing strict exceptions, demonstrating how AI can be used as more of a tool. But this is only true if you do the work to look up each fact and give credit where it is due.
This is similar in digital art. There are little ways that it can be allowed on a case by case basis, specifically if you are using it to touch up blemishes and remove very small bits of your image. Though using it to remove bigger, more prominent factors of your image will not be allowed in class.
As AI has been introduced, schools have been working their hardest to get ahead of its fast-growing nature. Burlington High Schools administration has been beginning to work with the art department on exactly how to handle this situation.
“That would be the teacher’s judgment,” Mr. Sheehan, BHS assistant principal, said. “For example if your using AI just to get a B+ on a project, then yeah it’s like plagiarizing”
As of now the art department has no definitive policies put in place for this phenomenon in specific cases. There are no AI trackers that you can paste an image through to check for AI to be used, and there isn't a great way to know if a student used AI to alter the image they turn in.
The hope of the art department is that the students will be developed enough to know how to edit efficiently on their own, before they try and turn to AI to do it for them.
“We engage our students in developing the following: Observation, Skill (Technical Craftsmanship), Creativity, Design Thinking (Working through the stages of a process), and Studio Habits of Mind,” Mr. Ratkevich, Art Department Head, said. “To develop those skills, the process needs to come from the self and the product needs to be original.”
AI has quickly grown into a huge phenomenon that every field has to come across. The art department, just like the rest of them, has to change with the time to try and curb the plagiarism that students now have easy access to.
“AI is here, and it's not going anywhere,” Mr. Sheehan, says “So now we just need to figure out where it fits within our lives”
By Lena Menkello, Photo by Gwyneth McNamee and Alma Dean Photography.
The marching band and color guard season is off to a running start, kicking off the season with their first show at Amherst on September 28th and coming first place in their division. And their show on October 5th at Westford where BHS came in 5th place out of 5 although There were a lot of technical difficulties throughout this specific competition even before the show started.
While marching band is a difficult skill to master, this year's members have been working extra hard to achieve the placing that they received on Saturday, September 28th, at Amherst where percussion beat Framingham high school by 5 points, and color guard beat stoughton high school by 2 points. As their first outing they were .6 points away from a score of 80 and very close to where they ended last season. Last season ended with an 89, and in the first show last season, they had a 76.
Stylianos Tsipourakis, BHS freshman, said “there has been a lot of improvement considering the pieces we’re playing.”
Over ⅔ of the group are brand new. Last year they ended with 28 kids and they started this year with 58 kids, most of which are 8th and 9th graders who have never done this activity before. These kids also never performed music that is this difficult. Currently they are playing high end high school and low end college music.
Marching band and color guard work side by side. They follow drills that correspond with each other to make a routine where guard intertwines with the marching bands performances. So far, this season of color guard has had a great beginning, Sarah Haigh, BHS junior, stated that the season has “been very productive and it’s been a learning curve.”
“Our drill is written by one of the staff members or the staff members work on it collectively, we usually have our choreography written by our coach or instructor after the drills and music has been done.” Haigh said. “Our choreography is arranged to the music for the marching band and we practice it sometimes on our own, sometimes with the band it really just depends on what we're doing that week.”
The BHS Color guard has written drills that they practice during rehearsals, these drills are usually written by staff members while they have their coach or instructor work on the choreography portion.
"It doesn't really matter what other schools we beat or by how much,” Mr. Ketterer, BHS band teacher, said. “In reality the thing that is the most impressive is the fact that with so many new students this year, we scored higher than we have in our first shows in years past. It really speaks to the students dedication to music and excellence itself."
By Hannah Stephan; Published October 15, 2024
The juice is loose once again! That’s right! After 36 long years, Michael Keaton finally makes his comeback as the hilarious demon we know and love, Beetlejuice. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was released a few days ago, and I, the writer of this article, have seen it myself. So, here is my opinion on the movie. (Spoilers!)
When we first are introduced to the characters, we notice that some of the characters and the actors playing them had somehow grown up over the past few years in the making. This includes Winona Ryder (Lydia), Catherine O’Hara (Delia), and of course, Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice).
But that’s not all because a new actor has been introduced to the Beetlejuice series, and she is none other than Jenna Ortega. You may recognize her as either Harley from Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle or Wednesday from Netflix’s Wednesday.
(Jenna actually predicted her future as Wednesday in one of the Stuck in the Middle episodes).
In the newly released “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, Jenna plays the role of Astrid Deetz, the daughter of Lydia Deetz. Of course Tim Burton put together a great cast!