Viviana Martinez won first place Feb. 23, 2024, in the teen category in the Pendleton Center for the Arts' poster contest to benefit the Eastern Oregon Climate Change Coalition. Some artists used artificial intelligence to create winning entries, a move that drew criticism from one of the contestants.

PENDLETON — The Pendleton Center for the Arts’ recent poster contest drew up some controversy because some artists used artificial intelligence to create winning entries.

Arts center Executive Director Roberta Lavadour said the use of AI was something new to the contest.

“We had not anticipated we were going to have AI-generated entries,” she said. “Because we didn’t anticipate that, we did not make guidelines in the call for entries, and due to that, we didn’t say we weren’t going to accept them.”

But the inclusion drew a complaint from a student who entered work that did not use AI.

Lavadour said the AI entries were such a surprise she didn’t think there would be any need to judge AI-created art in a different category.

“So we put them all together,” she said. “That was my choice. Because we hadn’t anticipated that, and there is a difference, we need to do a better job making a distinction between an art contest and a poster contest.”

Lavadour said she applauded the student who voiced her concerns about the fairness of the competition.

“I love so much that these students were engaged in the conversation,” she said. “It’s a big conversation people all over the world are having right now about the policy for AI. I love that they felt confident expressing their opinions about it. I think it’s an important conversation for us to have. If their comments get us started, it’s good for all of us.”

The poster contest was about design and conveying information, Lavadour said.

“Often you can have a beautiful, fabulous piece of art,” she said. “There were some incredible art pieces, but they didn’t work as well as a poster as the ones that were recognized.”

Lavadour said moving forward the arts center will create some guidelines about whether or not AI-generated imagery is going to be allowed.

“One of the things discussed at the event is this is a technology that is with us, and it’s a tool that young people and all of us are going to have to make decisions about how we use it,” Lavadour said.

Lavadour said the award ceremony was Feb. 23 and the arts center received 36 entries divided among two age categories, those under 12 and ages 13-18. The contest benefited the Eastern Oregon Climate Change Coalition.

“They put it together to encourage kids to really think about that,” Lavadour said. “When we do this again, we will address AI imagery, and whether or not it’s allowed, and we will also do a better job of educating people about the difference between art, making something purely as an art piece, and the design and communication work that makes an effective poster.”

Lavadour explained why it matters to consider a category for art that relies on artificial intelligence.

“It’s important that we are drawing the distinctions between things that come from an authentic artistic voice, and things that are generated by an algorithm,” she said, “and my personal view is that the handcraft of the authentic voice that goes into our work is essential.”

Lavadour said she doesn’t like AI and she worries about it.

“We need to address its implications for the art world,” she said. “There may be a place for it as a tool for some things. I don’t think we should dismiss things out of hand because we’re not familiar with them. But we need to treat everything like this with a critical eye and really look at what is best for us as humans. Art is about expressing the human condition and only we can do that.”

See the posters

You can see entries for the contest at pendletonarts.org/eoc3posters/.