As AI tools become more common in creative workflows, they also raise important ethical and legal questions. Artists, designers, and educators are increasingly debating issues such as authorship, copyright, ownership, and the sources of the data used to train AI systems.
For tutors working in creative arts education, these discussions provide an opportunity to help students think critically about the technologies they use and the broader cultural and ethical contexts of creative practice.
This post explores some of the key ethical and copyright considerations surrounding AI in creative work.
Why it matters in creative arts education
Ethical reflection has long been part of creative education. Artists and designers often engage with questions about representation, cultural context, and the social impact of their work. AI technologies introduce new dimensions to these discussions.
Many artists and authors have raised concerns that their work has been used to train AI models without consent. Discussing these issues helps students understand the value of creative labour. Students should be encouraged to think about when and how AI tools are appropriate to use within their own practice.
The creative industries are actively debating the role of AI in areas such as illustration, design, photography, and publishing. Understanding these discussions helps students navigate future professional contexts.
A short practical exercise
Generate a summary of an academic article
This short activity will help you think about the copyright issues relating to AI and give you further guidance and good practice.
Step 1: Select an academic article
Use UAL’s Library Search to find an article related to your creative field. Aim to choose one that expects some prior knowledge or includes more complex ideas and information.
Download the article to your device.
Step 2: Use Copilot Chat to summarise the article
Open Copilot Chat (and make sure you are signed in with your UAL credentials):
- Attach your article to a ‘new chat’
- Enter the following prompt:
“Summarise this article in 100 words using very simple English, so that someone new to the topic and who does not have English as a first language can easily understand it.”
What do you think about the summary? Is it an accurate summary of the article?
Step 3: Consider copyright
You are not breaking any copyright laws doing this because you are using UAL Copilot Chat. Any upload stays within UAL’s secure environment and Copilot does not train on the data uploaded.
Some other questions to consider:
- Getting Copilot Chat to summarise the article is a quick process but what do you miss out in this process?
- How do you know it is an accurate summary?
- Your task was a simple summary of the article but what else could you ask Copilot to do with it?
Step 4: Reflect on teaching implications
Consider how these questions might be introduced to students. For example:
- Could copyright discussions be included in project briefs?
- Could students reflect on AI use as part of a process journal?
A guide to copyright
Andrew Gray copyright Librarian at UAL has written an excellent guide to copyright. This guide explains how copyright and licensing interact with the use of generative AI tools at UAL and the copyright protection that Copilot Chat provides.
Final thoughts
AI technologies are reshaping conversations about creativity, ownership, and the value of artistic work. For students in creative disciplines, understanding these ethical and legal issues is just as important as learning how to use the tools themselves.
By creating space for discussion and reflection, tutors can help students develop thoughtful and responsible approaches to working with AI in their creative practice.
Well done!
Well done, you have completed this series on “getting started with AI”.
If you would like to explore some of these issues in a bit more depth, you can self-enrol into the Moodle staff development course called “Artificial Imagination: Integrating AI into Art Education“.
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