The faculty of the School of Visual Communication applauds our student’s passionate opinion in The Post, titled “Scripps, VisCom need to ditch AI.” We are glad that, as a photojournalist, Ethan Herx is adamant about images being truthful, which is fundamental to photojournalism.
To be clear, though, this is a rebuttal to Herx’s column. The School of VisCom has never and will never teach generative artificial intelligence in any courses associated with photojournalism. VisCom teaches the ethical use of AI; despite making several good points in the opinion piece, neither Scripps College nor VisCom will be ditching generative AI. Not teaching AI would be a huge disservice to the students in the college who are not photojournalists or journalists.
Like it or not, generative AI is a tool that is necessary for students to remain relevant in their respective areas of study. A large majority of students at Scripps College and at Ohio University will need to have a working understanding of how to use it to be successful.
VisCom faculty, like any photojournalism student, are convinced that AI must stay out of photojournalism. AI has no business in documentary storytelling, and VisCom is working with organizations on ways to make sure it stays this way. We endorse initiatives targeting metadata and image origins to verify the originality of images.
We were early supporters of Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative. Yet, photojournalism is only one of four programs in VisCom. If you talk to a commercial photography student, they will have a much different take on using generative AI than their photojournalist counterpart. For User Experience or User Interface design students, AI is essential for coding and application development. For these students, not learning how to use generative AI as a tool will put them at a great disadvantage.
To ignore AI would undermine the reputation and credibility of the school. VisCom has always been at the forefront of innovation and progress. Our driven, practical approach to hands-on education within the School of VisCom can be seen in our early adoption of digital technology.
VisCom was the first program to work with Apple computers, the first to adopt Macintosh computers for design and color separation. With the assistance of the Canon camera company, VisCom was the first entity anywhere to use a still video camera to transmit digital images from a sporting event for use in a daily newspaper. During the 1987 Kentucky Derby, color images were sent by VisCom faculty from Louisville, Kentucky, to Stewart News in Florida using a 1200 baud modem. By contrast, the Associated Press was still using analog and a single-color image took 28 minutes. It was a noted event.
In 1994, VisCom was the first program in the U.S. to become an all-digital school in visual communication. Working with professional partners like Apple, Nikon, Canon, Epson and Mamiya America Corporation, the school was able to offer students a fully digital-only education for creative publication work. Like these technologies, AI can be used ethically and honestly in areas of study outside of photojournalism.
The referenced VisCom Focus gallery exhibit titled “Generative Spark,” which showcases student work in Professor Adonis Durado’s generative AI class, was created by undergraduates, M.A., M.F.A. and Ph.D. students. Not shown in the work is the fact that three-quarters of the class are devoted to the ethical use of AI and how AI affects the creative process. The school is in the process of seeking an Ethics & Reasoning BRICK for this course, since as much of the course is devoted to ethics as it is to image generation. In addition, nowhere in any criticism of AI do opponents mention how very difficult AI is to use if the intent is to create professional-quality images. Students are graded on the quality of the images and the refinement of their prompts.
Lastly, faculty agree with the observation that generative AI uses a substantial amount of energy, which overall is quite worrisome. This is an excellent point, of which we believe everyone should be aware. That said, our job as educators at Scripps College is to prepare students for a successful career in their field of study. For us to simply ditch AI at this moment would be a disservice to students paying a lot of money to be competitive.
If progress is a giant sphere gaining momentum, you don’t want to be the one standing in front of it with your hands up trying to stop it — if you do, you will get run over. It’s better to be on top of the sphere running forward so you can direct its trajectory. Generative AI will never have a place in photojournalism, but it is already an integral part of design, photography and UI/UX.
Don’t ask whether you should use AI. Instead, ask which generative AI tools are built on more ethical foundations in the way they train their data. For instance, Adobe’s Firefly is trained only on its own licensed stock images, ensuring a more transparent and rights-respecting dataset. Similarly, Anthropic’s Claude model has taken steps to be more open about how its training data is sourced, setting a precedent for greater accountability compared to more opaque systems like ChatGPT. The real question is not about rejecting AI outright, but about choosing tools that align with our values of integrity, transparency and respect for creators.
Our job is not to stand in front of this change but to guide students in how to use it ethically and wisely. We welcome student voices in this discussion because skepticism and critique are as important as innovation. Together, we can shape a future where VisCom remains a leader in both integrity and creativity.
Respectfully,
Prof. Timothy Goheen, Director
Prof. Stan Alost
Prof. of Instruction Joshua Birnbaum
Assoc. Prof. Adonis Durado
Prof. Gary Kirksey
Assist. Prof. Ana Mojica Myers
Assist. Prof. Catherine Penrod
Visiting Professional Terrance Reimer
