This was an opportunity for me to show people how we can embrace this technology just like we have embraced any other emergent technology.
Blending artificial intelligence and art may raise questions at first glance. But a group of BSU scientists and mathematicians is showing how the two disciplines can work well together.
With a key assist from AI, about 20 students, faculty and staff in the Bartlett College of Science and Mathematics recently created a painting highlighting many facets of their disciplines.
“This was an opportunity for me to show people how we can embrace this technology just like we have embraced any other emergent technology,” said Dr. Vignon Oussa, a math professor and organizer of the painting project.
To create the image, the group solicited words and phrases that represented the college and BSU. Participants then used artificial intelligence to create several designs based on those words.
They decided to paint an AI-generated image depicting staircases shaped like DNA, as well as rocks, geometric shapes, chemical fumes, and other features that highlight college programs.
“This was an amazing opportunity for me as an artist to get a group of people, especially scientifically oriented minds, to work on something that you usually don’t expect this group to have an interest in,” said Oussa, who has long had a passion for art and used those skills to blend individual painters’ work seamlessly together. “It was a powerful experience.”
Lauren De Morais, ’27, appreciated the opportunity to build connections with her peers and professors as they painted.
“For me, it was awesome because I met so many new people,” said Lauren, who is majoring in math and secondary education. “We are all different majors and come from different backgrounds, so it’s good to have a place to connect with each other.”
The painting now hangs in the atrium of the Dana-Mohler Faria Science and Mathematics Center, where participants hope it highlights a responsible, positive use of AI.
It also represents the diversity of the college through a single work of art, said painter Judi Morin, administrative assistant for the Department of Mathematics.
“It brings a lot of things together,” she said, “and we’re all part of one big universe.”
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