Managing the Art Room: “I Think It’s Called ChatGPT?”

Walking on the treadmill before school, I overheard two adults about my age mention the letters “AI.” I perk up, hoping to hear something innovative, critical, or curious about this digital pathfinding tool I love to steer.

“I think it’s called... ChatGPT?” one says.

I’m reminded that not everyone is eager to engage with technology; many people look for reasons to avoid it. As educators, we have not only the opportunity, but Iʼd argue the obligation to help students navigate the ever-changing digital landscape they’re designing.

So, Where Do We Start?
The digital landscape includes artificial intelligence (AI). But how do we teach students about it? This wasn’t covered in my teacher-prep courses, at least not in my twenty-sixth year. We might start with a history of AI or tutorials on specific tools, but that leaves out the driver: you, the human.

Another way is to begin with our National Visual Arts Standards and weave in explicit instruction tied to self- and social-awareness concepts, as defined by CASEL (see Resources). This sequence has shaped both my artistic and teaching practice.

For this article, I’m specifically referring to generative AI, which creates content (text to images ) by drawing on data patterns (see Resources).

Reflection and Understanding
Begin with a self-awareness pause. Teachers can reflect on their understanding and feelings about AI, including concerns, curiosities, potential, and limits. This can reveal the direction of what we want to learn and how we want to use AI.

Next, lean into AI literacy: the technical knowledge, durable skills, and future-ready attitudes needed to thrive in a world influenced by AI. AI literacy helps learners understand, evaluate, and use AI while weighing its benefits, risks, and ethics (Digital Promise, see References). We do this by responding—analyzing generative tools, reviewing text and images, examining the work of other artists whose styles are replicated without permission, and looking for biases, false expectations, and successful results. Responsible decision-making belongs here, keeping us curious while considering AI’s impact on artists, consumers, and communities.

Then comes connecting: synthesizing experience through self-awareness and social awareness. Ask, How has exploring generative AI changed my thinking? What will I do with this knowledge?

Move to creating through prompt engineering—talking to AI, evaluating responses, and refining prompts until results match intention. This loop of human-AI-human requires relationship skills, inviting collaboration and seeking feedback, so we are co-creating generative AI that demonstrates cultural competence.

Finally, present the generated content. Decide what and how to share, revisiting your purpose and considering others’ perspectives through self-awareness and social awareness. Ask: How does this content support belonging?

AI Literacy in Practice
In 2024, my Digital Photography students and I attempted to build a shared understanding of AI. We began with self-awareness reflections and short openers about students’ feelings and experiences with AI. Then we responded by spotting biases, deciding if content was AI-generated, and exploring how conservationists use AI for species identification—all linked to self-management and responsible decision-making.

During our portrait unit, we examined Adobe Photoshop’s Neural Filters. Students were amazed by how easily skin or expressions could change. This launched our debate: Is this ethical?

That led to connecting, considering personal consent with digital editing and how companies decide what “happiness” looks like. Students noted Adobe’s feedback option and read about a teen misusing AI to create explicit images (WGN-TV, see References). They agreed such misuse was unacceptable.

Next, we began to create. Still inspired by what they learned, the class worked together to write rules for AI use in our art room: always get permission from a subject and cite the tool as part of the medium. They made their portraits, getting each otherʼs consent before editing some with Neural Filters, and the others with basic color correcting.

In the end, students designed an interactive presentation of their portraits for their classmates. The goal was to build perspective through social awareness, sparking thoughtful conversations about ethical and responsible uses of AI.

To attract an audience, students created a hidden display where viewers peeked through small openings, guessed which images were AI-generated, and scanned a QR code for the answers.

Conclusion
As an artist and educator, I’ve learned that curiosity, rooted in identity and agency, can show how art and education open doors for collaboration and belonging. And don’t forget the “I think it’s called ChatGPT?” comment. We can’t assume AI literacy is a common language; we need to co-create a common understanding.