Panel discussion centers on art, authorship and the future in the age of AI
Photos and story by James Hill
Portland Community College will host “Thinking Machines: Art, Authorship, and the Future in the Age of AI,” a panel conversation from noon to 1 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 17 at the North View Gallery, Sylvania Campus (12000 S.W. 49th Avenue).
The event is organized alongside interdisciplinary artist Hannah Newman’s exhibition, “Neural-Lithic Harvests,” on display through Jan. 27. This discussion is free and open to the public. The art gallery is located in Room 214 of the Communication Technology (CT) Building.
The panel brings together artists and scholars to examine how advancing AI tools, especially image/video generators and large language models, are reshaping creative practice, authorship and education. Participants include Newman, artist Myra Lilith Day, poet Megan Savage, artist David Torres, philosopher Matt Stockton and humanities professor Jo McLendon.
Hannah Newman, Simulation Field, 2025, AI generated image printed on acrylic.
The conversation probes the tension between human agency and machine creation amid intensifying real-world debates about who benefits from generative AI and who bears the costs. U.S. courts are entering a pivotal year in lawsuits that question whether training AI on copyrighted books, images, and journalism is “fair use,” with outcomes that could redefine creative rights and compensation. At the same time, recent headlines have underscored how image-generation tools can be misused to create nonconsensual “nudification” and sexualized deepfakes, raising urgent questions about consent, safety, and accountability online.
Panelists will also address the environmental footprint of AI systems, including the growing energy and water demands of data centers powering today’s models, and what responsible use can look like in the arts and humanities.
PCC is home to three art galleries: the North View Gallery, the Paragon Arts Gallery and the Helzer Gallery, each located on comprehensive campus locations in Portland – Sylvania, Cascade and Rock Creek, respectively. The Art Galleries are dedicated to supporting education and community building through the arts.
For more information, visit the PCC art galleries webpage: pcc.edu/galleries/.
About James Hill
James G. Hill, an award-winning journalist and public relations writer, is the Director of Public Relations at Portland Community College. A graduate of Portland State University, James has worked as a section editor for the Newberg Graphic... more »