I was drawn to the topic of Ethics and Legality of Generative AI in Journalism because AI is under heavy controversy and has been for some time now. At first, it was only aligned with cheating. Now it’s being heavily relied upon in society and is often represented in the media. In my piece, I created a scene where a character, caught using AI, attempts to destroy any evidence of their plagiarism by shredding themselves. This visual represents the idea that not only do they want to avoid legal and media scrutiny, but they also realize that they can’t hide their guilt unless they destroy themselves entirely. The glitch on the screen alludes to AI’s limitations in producing the same depth of work as human creativity.

The piece started as a pencil drawing, which I photographed and imported into Photoshop. I used the line tool to trace the image and add color. This method allows me to keep the creative freedom of traditional paper while achieving the clean appearance of digital art. Through this piece, I want to communicate the importance of trusting one’s own creativity and intellect, rather than relying on AI for artificial shortcuts. The takeaway is to value original thought and have the courage to create with your own mind, without resorting to automated help.