MICHAEL VOYTKO
Special to The Leader
As a senior, I have seen many controversial and strange decisions come out of the current administration.
I have seen major budget cuts slash programs in half. I have seen our president deliver mind-numbingly out-of-touch lectures to angry students.
And somehow, this AI Film Festival might be their most unbelievable decision yet.
I could’ve chosen any other school. When I was applying, I was very passionate about music, but I also had immense love for film.
I also briefly considered pursuing the field of education. Fredonia had all three and immediately drew me toward it.
I ultimately chose the video production major (now known as digital film production) in the communication department.
When I chose this major all those years ago, the concept of an AI film felt light years away.
Over the last four years, I have developed a strong passion for filmmaking. I have felt supported by many of my amazing professors, such as Roslin Smith and Mark Kiyak, and I have seen my journey in filmmaking flourish over these years.
And then, SUNY Fredonia announced its AI Film Festival would be happening in April.
The same school that I have poured four years and thousands of dollars into wanted to celebrate the replacement of the very thing I’m here to study.
Not only was the festival going to showcase AI “art,” but it was also set to give out awards for “Best AI Film” and “Best AI Score.”
This, of course, came after years of cuts to the visual arts and new media (VANM) program.
It felt like yet another smack in the face in a long line of attacks on non-STEM majors.
It must be noted that since this meeting, the school has changed its tune, announcing that the festival will instead be a presentation about the positives and negatives of AI.
The students, however, did not take the original idea lightly.
I spoke with Adam Wysocki, a film/video arts major from the VANM department, on his opinions regarding this whole thing.
“I think that this is another attack in a series of attacks. I don’t think it’s the first one, and I don’t think it’ll be the last one,” he said. “We weren’t asked if this was a good idea. We were only asked for our input after it was already announced, which I think is a terrible way to run things.”
The crew of “Planet Heart,” a short film being made by the digital film production capstone students, reached out to the school in an email to get them to stop the festival.
I spoke with the film’s producer, Conor Clary, about what motivated them to reach out to the school.
“Every time I learn something new or try to advance my career, the looming threat of AI replacing my job is there,” he said. “And then I see stuff from, you know, Stable Diffusion, Sora, stuff like that, and it just, the longer time goes by, the scarier it gets. And I, there’s a fear, a lurking sense of dread.”
The administration responded by setting up a town hall meeting to talk about the issue.
I had the fortune of attending this meeting. It was hosted by Dr. Michel Kouadio, Fredonia’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), who is a prominent member of the AI Film Festival Planning and Implementation Committee.
Other committee members in attendance were Dr. Michael Jabot and Dr. Kaustav Misra.
Dr. Kouadio delivered a presentation to a room full of angry art and communication students.
Kouadio explained that Fredonia does not want to take sides in the AI debate, and it is the school’s responsibility to educate students on the use of AI.
“We aren’t picking sides” and “We want to have a dialogue” were phrases students heard numerous times throughout the meeting.
The phrase “We want to start a dialogue” was also repeated ad nauseam.
Students began asking him questions and voicing their opinions in droves.
To give credit where credit is due, Misra and Jabot were helping make sure Kouadio answered all students’ questions.
If the school truly didn’t want to take sides, it wouldn’t be giving out awards celebrating AI “art” and “music.”
It’s an especially ridiculous decision for a music and art school.
If they truly wanted to have a dialogue about AI, there are other ways to do that.
How does promoting and celebrating AI “art” create a dialogue about AI?
If the school cared about its students, it wouldn’t be celebrating the thing that is threatening their jobs.
The school is out of touch with the student population.
Dr. Kouadio, whose primary forte is in computer science, has no business diving into the film world.
He spent most of his presentation comparing AI to other technological innovations throughout history.
He tried to compare what AI is doing to the film industry to the introduction of sound to film.
But sound on film created many new jobs for filmmakers and helped re-invent the art of filmmaking.
Sound design is an art of its own that allows for vast displays of human creativity.
These comparisons were made many more times throughout the meeting, with CGI and social media being compared to AI as well.
So many people work together on a film set to create art. AI films are made by someone typing a prompt and having AI do all the work.
It isn’t just film students who are affected by this. I recently spoke with Matthew Kenyon, a Music Composition and Music Education double major, about the school giving out an award for Best AI Score at the festival.
“AI music is derivative of other works. So whatever music I write or whatever anyone else writes is being taken in [by AI] to write something else,” he said. “If I microwave a pizza pocket and put some hot sauce on it, that doesn’t make me a chef. Nor does someone typing, ‘Write a film score in the style of John Williams’, make them a composer.”
After the meeting, students tried to stay after and talk with Dr. Kouadio.
When I asked him if any film professors or students were involved in this decision, he pointed to Misra and Jabot and vaguely tried to claim that one of them was a film professor.
Dr. Misra is the Dean of the School of Business. He has no experience in film.
Business students have told me that their department encourages students to use AI.
Dr. Jabot teaches science education. In his 20+ years here, he has primarily taught science.
He briefly taught a class over 10 years ago called Arts in Nature, which no students signed up for.
It is unclear why Dr. Kouadio claimed they were film professors.
After answering a few questions, he told the students that had stayed after that he was running late to a meeting and couldn’t talk anymore.
He then proceeded to monologue for another 10 minutes, using the same phrases he repeated ad nauseum from his presentation.
When asked if he had learned anything from the meeting, Kouadio vaguely responded that he learned about the students’ “passion.”
The environmental impacts of AI were also heavily discussed during the meeting. Jazmine Fiore, a VANM student, delivered her own research during Dr. Kouadio’s presentation.
“ChatGPT uses 17 ounces of water per 100 words for their cooling centers,” she said at the meeting. “In 2023 alone, AI in their data cooling centers wasted 17 billion gallons of water.”
According to Fiore, she had more data to share with Kouadio and gave him her email after the meeting.
He has yet to contact her.
Just two days later, Kouadio announced the new AI chatbot, “Ask Freddy.”
This came several days after Fredonia asked residents to conserve water.
Dr. Kouadio’s reign as CIO has been filled with many questionable choices. From the controversial switch to Microsoft Outlook to his excessive push for more AI in the school, Kouadio has become the epitome of how out of touch the administration is with the student body.
Students do not want the AI Film Festival. It has been widely panned by Communication, VANM, and Music students alike.
After blowing $60 million on a science center and slashing the art program in half, the school once again proves that it has zero regard for non-STEM students.
Every student interviewed at the meeting said that they truly appreciated Dr. Kouadio for taking the time to talk about this issue.
But many of these students didn’t feel like they were heard.
So, because of that, I felt like this would be a great place to get student voices out here.
If you wish to express your concerns about the festival or AI in our school, contact AIFilmFestival@fredonia.edu. And now, here are some quotes from the students:
“I’d like to write this as a message to the people who I pay their salaries. Ask us before you do big shit like this. Because if you asked us beforehand, and did a survey, then you would understand why we don’t like you right now.” -Conor Clary, Communication: Digital Film Production.
“I think that now is a time for [the administration] to show up for their art students, regardless of if they are VANM students or COMM students or Music students. Fredonia is an art school. It’s a music school.” -Adam Wysocki, Visual Arts and New Media: Film/Video.
“There’s students like myself that want to be writing for film, and this takes away from that and all the years that we’ve spent studying for this.” -Matthew Kenyon, Music Composition and Music Education.
“If Dr. Kouadio happens to read this interview, you have my email, and I wish you would reach out to me, and I wish you would listen to us. Support your local artists, go to local bands. Don’t let anyone tell you AI is the future. It is just regurgitating the past.” -Jazmine Fiore, Visual Arts and New Media.