Cover lesson · Art · Year 11 · Advanced

Debating AI in art

DCF: Citizenship → Digital rights, licensing and ownership

Name: Class: Date:

Cover teacher — you need no subject knowledge

Print: this sheet, one per pupil, plus the stimulus sheet "Should AI images be accepted as art?", one per pupil. No computers needed. Do not let pupils generate images in the lesson — the task is about the argument, not the tool.

Run: 6 min — read the three viewpoints and the facts box · 4 min — split the room down the middle and allocate sides; pupils do not choose · 15 min — build the case in the table · 10 min — floor debate, two speakers each side, two minutes each, then open questions · 12 min — write the closing speech · 3 min — the honesty box at the end. Allocating sides is the point: pupils must argue a case using evidence, not report their opinion.

Collect: this sheet with the table and the closing speech completed. Keep the stimulus sheets.

The motion

"This house believes that AI-generated images should not be accepted into art competitions."

Circle the side you have been given: FOR the motion (ban them) / AGAINST the motion (allow them)

What you are doing

You have three viewpoints and a box of facts. Build a case for the side you were given: three claims, each with evidence from the sheet, each with the rebuttal you expect. Then take part in the floor debate and write a closing speech of about 150 words. You are marked on evidence and on answering the other side, never on which side you were allocated.

Step by step

6 min — Read all three viewpoints and the facts box. Underline three facts you can actually use.
4 min — Note your allocated side above, and write the single sentence you most fear the other side will say.
15 min — Fill in the case-building table. A claim with no evidence scores nothing.
10 min — Floor debate. Take notes in the margin on any argument you did not predict.
12 min — Write your closing speech in the box. Use at least two facts and answer the strongest point made against you.
3 min — Complete the honesty box.

Building the case

Claim	Evidence — quote or fact, and where it came from	What the other side will say, and my answer

The ownership question

Whichever side you are on, you must be able to answer this. Use the facts box.

Who, if anyone, owns an AI-generated image in UK law? Name the rule.
How long does copyright in a computer-generated work last, and how is that different from a painting?
Does a CC licence on a photograph give permission to train a model on it? Explain.

Closing speech — about 150 words

Honesty box

The side I actually agree with
The strongest argument against my own real view
One thing I would need to find out to settle it

Success criteria

I support each claim with a named fact or a quotation from the stimulus sheet, not with a general opinion.
I can explain who owns a computer-generated work in UK law and how long that copyright lasts.
I can explain why a Creative Commons licence on an image is not the same as permission to train a model on it.
I answer the strongest argument against my allocated side instead of ignoring it.
I keep the question of consent to training data separate from the question of whether the finished image is any good.

If you finish early

Write the competition rule you would actually publish. Three sentences, covering disclosure, categories and what happens to an entrant who conceals the tool they used.
The judge says the problem is comparing a four-hundred-hour painting with eleven prompts. Does that argument also apply to photography against oil painting? Write your answer and where the comparison breaks down.
Draft three questions you would ask an AI company at a Senedd committee hearing about training data. Each one must be answerable with a fact, not a slogan.