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AI Ethics & Usage Statement
At the Visual Art Society of Bryan-College Station (VAS), our mission is to foster community, support local artists, and promote the visual arts in the Brazos Valley. As an all-volunteer, non-profit organization, our board and committee members balance their dedication to the arts with full-time careers, families, and other personal responsibilities.
To ensure our limited volunteer hours are spent on high-impact community initiatives—such as organizing shows, managing scholarships, hosting gallery receptions and community outreach —we utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a supportive tool in our administrative and promotional workflows.
Administrative & Promotional AI Use
We use generative AI to assist in creating show posters, flyers, and promotional verbiage. These tools act as a force-multiplier for our volunteers, allowing us to maintain a professional presence and communicate effectively with our members without the need for a dedicated, paid design staff, which VAS cannot afford.
AI in Our Exhibitions
While we use AI for logistics, we are equally committed to exploring the evolving landscape of digital creativity. To maintain the integrity of our exhibitions while embracing innovation, we have established a specific category for AI-Mediated Art.
Criteria for AI-Mediated Submissions:
- Originality First: Generative AI must represent only a portion of the imagery. The artist has to use only their own art to create their AI mediated art. This can be done by training a custom model (like a LoRA) with local tools (such as Stable Diffusion via GitHub), using an isolated style transfer application, or relying on generative fill tools trained exclusively on their imported images. Submissions must be original works and not plagiarized from existing AI-generated models, datasets, or other artists’ work.
- Process Disclosure and Juror Review: Artists are required to provide a brief description of their creative process in the application, detailing how the AI was utilized to produce the final piece. This transparency allows our jurors to determine if the work fits within our specific category requirements.
Our Values The Visual Art Society of Bryan-College Station remains a human-centric organization. By utilizing AI for our promotional “heavy lifting,” we protect the time of our volunteers and ensure that our primary focus remains where it belongs: on the artists and the art that enriches our community.
Furthermore, as a community of creators who frequently draw inspiration from the natural world, we are conscious of the environmental footprint left by the massive data centers required to power AI technologies. We are committed to utilizing these tools purposefully and strictly for necessary administrative support, balancing our need for operational efficiency with a deep respect for our environment.
For questions regarding this policy or our exhibition categories, please contact: president@visualartsociety.org.