Artists and other creative people (not to mention, ahem, journalists) have been deeply concerned about the way that their work has been hoovered up by tech companies to fuel artificial intelligence–powered image and text generators. In 2023, several digital artists filed a class action lawsuit targeted at Stability AI, Midjourney, and the image-sharing platform DeviantArt, and others filed a suit against online retailer Shein for stealing their designs. Such suits scored a small win in court in 2024, yes, but many have felt powerless to stop the endless theft of their output.
One University of Alaska Fairbanks undergraduate apparently has found a way no one else seems to have thought of to fight back against AI-generated art. Graham Granger, a student in the school’s film and performing arts program, came upon some AI-generated art by MFA student Nick Dwyer and promptly ate it in protest, according to a report in the Sun Star, a student paper.
“Granger claimed that he destroyed the artwork because it was AI generated, according to the report by university police,” writes the paper’s Lizzy Hahn, adding that “in his artist statement for the exhibit that was destroyed, Dwyer says that his work ‘explores identity, character narrative creation and crafting false memories of relationships in an interactive role digitally crafted before, during and after a state of AI psychosis.’” AI psychosis, not a clinical diagnosis but a much-discussed phenomenon according to Psychology Today, results from deep engagement with chatbots, which can reinforce “grandiose, referential, persecutory, and romantic delusions.”
According to information from the Alaska Court System, Granger was charged on Wednesday with criminal mischief resulting in damage of less than $250, a class B misdemeanor. The presiding judge was Maria P. Bahr.
Artist Nick Dwyer with his work Shadow Searching: ChatGPT psychosis (2025) after it was partially eaten by another student.
courtesy Nick Dwyer
The exhibition including Dwyer’s work, “This Is Not Awful,” is open through January 23 at the UAF Art Gallery and also includes fellow MFA candidates Sarah Dexter, Amy Edler, Iris Sutton, and Matthew Wooller.
Judging by Hahn’s photos, the artwork consists of small, Polaroid-style images pinned to the wall. Police estimated that at least 57 of the 160 images were ruined, Hahn writes. The works were credited in a wall label to Dwyer and AI, and the installation is titled Shadow Searching: ChatGPT psychosis (2025).
“When you make art, you become vulnerable and so the artwork is vulnerable and that’s something that makes it seem more alive or more real or in the moment,” Dwyer told the Sun Star.
Neither Dwyer, Granger, the university, nor the university police immediately responded to requests for comment.
