Members of the University of Rhode Island community who have voiced their opinion on the university’s use of artificial intelligence say they have been cut off by official URI Instagram pages.
URI accounts have been advertising different events on campus utilizing AI, which have received a negative public opinion online from some, according to The Rhody Blunt.
Using word play on The Good Five Cent Cigar, The Blunt, a satirical Instagram page that creates fake URI-related news headlines, has voiced their opinion of the AI usage in the comment section.
The Residence Hall Association Instagram page put out a post advertising “Shrekfest” using what appears to be a fully AI-generated poster. When The Blunt commented calling out the AI usage, the comment was removed and their account was blocked, according to The Blunt. The comment section on the post has since been disabled.
On the user’s personal Instagram account, similar issues were faced, according to The Blunt, who maintains anonymity online. The individual commented on a URI Dining Services post advertising a “Wicked”-themed event at Mainfare Dining Hall, which featured what appeared to be an AI generated image.
The individual’s comment was deleted, and commenting was turned off on the post, though it has since been reinstated.
In addition, the URI Dining Services account directly messaged the individual with multiple unprompted content-creation employment offers. The individual said dining services had a “passive aggressive tone.”
“I try drawing what I can, but if I showed what I’d have time to produce you’d complain it wasn’t good enough,” URI Dining Services said in the message. “Are you willing to help? I have done all the layouts myself by the way. Illustrations have been brought in from AI because I do not have the time to create the illustrations myself. It’s basically used as clip art placed in layouts I create. What do you think? How many hours can you work?”
This individual is not the only person who has been censored, according to first-year student Lilac Enos-Fugere. On April 5, the URI College of Pharmacy Instagram page posted AI-generated images of a chocolate bunny completing pharmacy-related tasks.
Enos-Fugere left a comment on the post objecting the use of AI, and noted that two other comments from another individual were posted as well. Enos-Fugere made a story post in objection.
When they checked back, the comments had been deleted, prompting another story post to point this out, directly mentioning the account, according to Enos-Fugere. Checking back again, the comments on the post were disabled and Enos-Fugere’s original post was taken down as the account had blocked her. The original post was then taken down and her account was unblocked.
There was an instant feeling of outrage, according to Enos-Fugere.
“I absolutely feel that the university is attempting to stifle student discontent of their usage of AI,” Enos-Fugere said. “It has been shown with other official URI accounts, namely URI Dining.”
The censorship around the use of AI makes students feel as though the university does not understand the students’ concerns, according to The Blunt.
“It seems like they think we’re just complaining about the quality of the art, but that’s not the case,” The Blunt said. “Generative AI is killing the environment, it’s destroying jobs, it’s stealing intellectual property from real artists, and it’s run by corporations profiting off war and genocide.”
Additionally, the way that official university accounts have been handling the issue are contradicting, according to The Blunt.
“At the end of the day, it’s just extremely hypocritical for a university, an institution focused on expanding knowledge and the arts, to be so dependent on an anti-intellectual technology like AI,” The Blunt said. “It’s directly contrary to the mission of a university.”
The moment can be taken as a way for students to band together, according to The Blunt.
“My advice to the student body would be to speak up about the AI issue or any other issue you care about on campus,” The Blunt said. “The university tries to ignore us by blocking us and deleting our comments, but they can’t ignore all of us. Speak up for what you care about and get organized with others who are passionate about the same thing.”
URI administration were unaware of the actions from the Dining Services and College of Pharmacy accounts, according to Dawn Bergantino, URI director of communications, said in a statement to The Cigar.
“We were unaware of the situation but are actively looking into it,” Bergantino said. “Our social media guidelines emphasize respect for the dignity of others and encourage thoughtful, respectful dialogue, even on opposing views.”
Negative comments are allowed except in extreme circumstances like spam, threats and defamatory content, according to Bergantino.
“We will continue to work with the campus offices responsible for these accounts to better understand this set of circumstances and to address the matter as appropriate,” Bergantino said.
More information on URI’s AI policies can be found at https://its.uri.edu/ai-at-uri/. The Blunt can be found at https://www.instagram.com/rhodybluntmag/.
