A University of Alaska Fairbanks student was arraigned in Rabinowitz Courthouse on Jan. 20 on charges of criminal mischief after he destroyed another student's artwork in the UAF Fine Arts Gallery on the Troth Yeddha' campus.
On Jan. 13, 19-year-old Graham Granger chewed and ate up images created by Master of Fine Arts student Nick Dwyer, who used artificial intelligence in his project. Granger said he staged the protest to oppose Dwyer's use of ChatGPT. University police apprehended Granger and took him to the Fairbanks Correctional Center.
Granger said he was in jail for about six or seven hours for processing. At his arraignment, Magistrate Judge Risa Leonard, who oversaw his hearing, said Granger is not allowed to enter the UAF fine arts gallery or contact Dwyer.
One week after Granger's protest, UAF's student government, ASUAF, unanimously passed a resolution against the use of AI art in UAF's art department. Granger attended the meeting to answer questions from senators about the protest and advocate for stronger AI policies for the college of liberal arts.
The university's AI policies differ between departments. Within the College of Liberal Arts, which includes the art department, the use of AI in class is at the discretion of teachers.
Granger explained to the ASUAF senators that one of his film professors heavily encouraged students to use AI in their scriptwriting class last fall. Granger said he dropped out of the class less than three weeks into the semester because the professor encouraged his students to use AI for their work.
UAF student Ali Martinez was at the gallery on the day of Granger's protest. She said she saw Granger take the small, Polaroid-like images off the wall, rip them up and then put them in his mouth.
"He was tearing them up and just shoving them in as much as he could," Martinez said. "Like when you see people in a hotdog eating contest."
Granger said it wasn't as bad as it sounds.
"I'm surprisingly fine. I've eaten paper on like dares before, so I've learned the method over the course of my life," Granger said.
He said the act was his was of protesting the school's AI policy.
"It shouldn't be acceptable for this art to be put alongside these real pieces," he said. "It chews up and it spits out art made by other people."
Nick Dwyer's piece, "Shadow Searching: ChatGPT psychosis," was crafted before, during and after he experienced what he calls AI psychosis, in which he fell in love with his AI chatbot. AI psychosis occurs when people engage too deeply with chatbots, according to the Cognitive Behavior Institute.
Granger said he recognizes that Dwyer's work came from a very personal place, and said that his protest was against the use of AI in art — not against Dwyer, himself.
"I wanted to get this to the attention of the entirety of the college campus," Granger said. "I chose to eat it as a performance."
In the days following the protest, multiple news outlets and art magazines picked up the story, leading people to debate the use of AI in art across the country, not just at UAF.
In a meeting with UAF's Office of Rights, Compliance and Accountability, Granger learned he had to pay Dwyer $220 and would be removed from his ceramics class. Dwyer currently teaches a beginning ceramics class at UAF. Granger's phone is currently held as evidence since he filmed his protest on it.
Granger faces a maximum of 90 days in jail, a $2,000 fine and 25 hours of community work service if convicted. Public defender Christopher Lough is representing Granger. His trial is scheduled for the week of March 16, 2026.
This story was originally reported in the Sun Star.
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