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A University of Alaska Fairbanks student is out on bail after ripping almost 60 images off the walls of a university art gallery and eating some of them earlier this month.

The incident has since gone viral — prompting countless social media posts and even reaching national outlets. Lizzy Hahn, an undergraduate journalism student at UAF, broke the story in The Sun Star, the school’s student-run newspaper.

She said the incident is shaping culture and policy around AI on campus.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Lizzy Hahn: A student was tearing Polaroids off of an exhibit in the UAF Art Gallery and putting them in his mouth, chewing them, swallowing some bits, but spitting some bits out. This was a protest against the use of AI art, since this exhibit was made in collaboration between the artist, Nick Dwyer, and AI — like, he used ChatGPT to help him make it.

Shelby Herbert: Whoa. Tell me what happened to the protester.

LH: His name is Graham Granger. He was arrested by the UAF police and charged with criminal mischief in the fifth degree, and he was taken to the Fairbanks Correctional Center, where he was for about six or seven hours, I believe. So, he’s out on bail.

SH: That was quite a splashy headline, and that story has really sprouted wings. I’ve had folks texting me from the East Coast about it. How does it feel to see your work get so much exposure?

LH: It’s really insane to me. I am a young journalist here at UAF. I’m a senior graduating soon, so like this is my first story to go — some people have said that it’s going viral. It has definitely been picked up by multiple, multiple, multiple news sources. Art News for one, Brut America for another.

SH: I think I just saw it in the New York Post?

LH: Yeah. Just so many media sources that have taken the information and my images and spread them to their corners of the world.

SH: Tell me about where you were when you found out this was going down.

LH: That’s actually kind of a funny story. I’m in a pottery class, and it’s in the fine arts building. And as I was walking in, I noticed that there was a police car outside of the building. So, I walk into class, and then my editor, Colin, starts texting our whole staff’s Slack. And he’s like, “Hey, is anyone in the arts building? There’s a student protesting in the gallery.”

So I asked my pottery teacher, like, “Hey, do you know anything about this?” And she’s like, “Yeah, I do.” So we walk into the gallery together, and all we see is just these torn up, chewed up bits of Polaroids. The artist was there, Nick Dwyer, and he was like, “Yeah, someone came and he started chewing up my work.”

SH: And how does the artist feel about all of this?

LH: He was upset, and rightfully so. This was his MFA exhibit. It’s hard to see your art destroyed like this. He had put a lot of time and effort into this. He wanted to press charges, and he had begun to press charges. But then the next day, things had kind of cooled down, he had talked to some of the art professors, and had realized that pressing charges maybe wouldn’t be the best idea.

SH: Lizzy, you’re a journalism student and a student-reporter, but you also have a foot in the art world — you’re an art minor. Can you tell me about how AI content and tools are being received on campus, especially in the humanities?

LH: Yeah, so every teacher has an AI policy. This has been a fairly new development to the syllabi that we are getting. It’s gone from teachers saying, “You’re not allowed to use AI, don’t use AI.” But in the past year, there’s been kind of a shift towards like, yes, you can use AI, but cite it.

Then also, in the art community, we’re starting to see a little more use of AI, and that has really been because of Nick. Like, Nick is really spearheading the use of AI. Art and AI is kind of an interesting mashup because you don’t really think of them going together, but Nick has really used AI in his pottery and now in this AI art exhibit.

I don’t know that many students personally, besides Nick, who are using AI art, but I think that in the future, it totally could change and the use of AI could become more common.

SH: You’re working on part two of the story. Can you give us a little tease about what comes next?

LH: Yeah, I’m kind of looking into what is happening here at UAF, because since this protest has occurred, there has been a lot of uprise. Our student government here on campus has actually proposed a resolution to ban AI art in the department. But at the same time, the art department is creating a statement about their AI policies. So, unsure where that will go, but bright futures ahead!

In this newscast:

• More than 200 Juneau residents gathered downtown at Overstreet Park last night for a candlelight vigil. They were there to honor a man who was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during protests against ongoing ICE operations,
• Juneau teens and residents are calling on the Alaska Legislature and Governor Mike Dunleavy to call off the state’s longtime push for a natural gas pipeline in Alaska,
• The State Board of Education unanimously approved a school psychology masters program at the University of Alaska Anchorage aimed to address the state’s shortage of school psychologists. The approval took place during the board’s special virtual meeting on Thursday,
• KTOO Morning Host Mike Lane checks in with Representative Andi Story,
• Former Alaska Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum deviated from state policy and failed to perform the necessary due diligence before committing millions in state savings to a private equity fund. That’s the conclusion of an outside review ordered by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration after Crum’s decision came to light last summer

Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced a series of bills on Friday and Monday that he says would stabilize the state’s finances. The most prominent pieces of Dunleavy’s plan are a statewide sales tax and a new formula for Permanent Fund dividends.

“I want to stop our fights over the PFD and the Permanent Fund, and I want to minimize arguments over how much we’re going to spend each year and how we’re going to control the growth of government,” Dunleavy said in his State of the State speech on Thursday, before the bills were unveiled.

The governor did not take questions on the plan on Monday. His press office declined requests to interview members of his administration and did not respond to questions sent by email Monday afternoon.

Debates over the state budget have routinely dominated legislative sessions in Juneau in recent years. Alaska has not followed a formula in state law specifying the amount of the dividend since 2015, after a crash in oil prices sharply reduced the amount of money flowing into state coffers.

The new dividend formula would split the state’s annual Permanent Fund drawdown 50-50 between state services and dividends. If the 50-50 formula were in effect this year, next year’s PFD would cost the state roughly $2 billion and provide each eligible Alaskan with about $3,200.

The new formula would be amended into the state Constitution. The amendment would also combine the Permanent Fund’s two accounts, responding to calls from Permanent Fund managers who say the current structure creates unnecessary risk, and constitutionally cap the state’s annual draw from the fund at 5% of its value.

A constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate. If lawmakers approve, voters would be asked to ratify it.

Dunleavy also proposes a variety of tax changes, most of them temporary. As a whole, they’d raise more than $900 million in annual revenue from mid-2027 through mid-2032 as the measures begin to phase out.

“Alaska has prosperous years ahead,” the governor wrote in a letter sent alongside the tax bill. “Starting in (mid-2032), Alaska is projected to see higher revenue due to expected increases in pipeline throughput and the Alaska LNG Project.”

The sales tax, proposed Monday in Senate Bill 227, would be set at 4% from April through September and 2% for the remainder of the year. As written, the sales tax would expire in 2034. That would provide the majority of the revenue from the tax package, between $735 million and $815 million each year.

“All who benefit from Alaska’s public services — residents, workers and visitors — will share in supporting those services,” Dunleavy wrote.

The bill would also seek to extract additional revenue from the North Slope’s oil and gas industry by raising the minimum tax companies must pay on each barrel of oil for as many as five years. The tax would end sooner if North Slope oil production increases to 650,000 barrels a day, roughly 40% more than current volumes.

It also includes elements of a bill the governor vetoed last year that seek to bring in more revenue via corporate income taxes from out-of-state companies that sell to Alaskans. It would eliminate the state’s corporate income tax in 2031.

A separate piece of the plan, laid out in House Bill 274 and Senate Bill 222, would require legislators to periodically vote on whether to continue various government programs, known as a “sunset review.”

Another element of Dunleavy’s plan would set a stricter limit for the growth of government spending in state law, reducing the allowable increase in state spending from 5% to 1% . A sunset review and a spending limit have been priorities for some of Dunleavy’s Republican allies in the state House and Senate.

The tax bill would not take effect unless the constitutional amendment, spending limit and sunset review bill each pass.

Anchorage Democratic Sen. Bill Wielechowski expressed reservations about the plan on Monday. He said he’d rather the state lean more heavily on the oil industry and Outside tech billionaires to raise revenue.

But Wielechowski said Dunleavy’s proposal will get “serious consideration” in the Senate.

“I’m glad the governor put something out. I think it’s the basis for discussion,” he said. “It’s hard to pass any of these major bills without the governor actively engaged, and this shows that he’s actively engaged.”

The new statewide sales tax would mean big changes for local governments, many of which already collect a sales tax.

The head of the Alaska Municipal League, Nils Andreassen, said on a video call Monday that Alaska’s local governments broadly support a plan to stabilize the state’s budget. But a statewide sales tax could have a variety of “unintended consequences,” especially for communities that already have a local sales tax, he said.

“The addition of a state-level (tax) is definitely a burden that some communities will feel more than others,” he said. “There will be calls from those residents to lower not the state’s rate, but the local (rate), which will diminish revenues at the local level.”

Dunleavy’s plan would also do away with so-called “tax caps” that limit sales taxes in some communities and set a statewide list of sales tax exemptions, Andreassen said. For example, it would likely override a local ballot measure in Juneau exempting most groceries and utilities from sales taxes.

Medical care, rent, groceries purchased with federal SNAP or WIC benefits, jet fuel, insurance premiums and business purchases would be among items exempt from sales tax under Dunleavy’s proposal.

It’s too soon to say if the governor’s plans will pass the Senate this year, Wielechowski said. Leaders in the House said earlier this month they’re not optimistic Dunleavy’s plans will pass this year, his last as governor.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional information about the revenue the tax package would raise.

The oil rig that crashed into the frozen ground on the North Slope near Nuiqsut Friday remains too unstable for responders to access the scene, state officials said. While no serious injuries were reported, days after the incident, there were still many unknowns for the companies involved and the nearby community.

Doyon Rig 26 was commissioned in 2016 by ConocoPhillips and built, owned and operated by Doyon Drilling, a subsidiary of Doyon, a regional Native corporation based in Fairbanks. The 10-million-pound machine, also known by the nickname “The Beast,” was being moved on a gravel road on Friday afternoon, when it suddenly toppled over, 6 ½ miles from Nuiqsut, an Iñupiaq village of about 500.

ConocoPhillips said in a statement that no one was seriously hurt. Two workers, who were on the rig when it crashed, as well as six responders, were taken to nearby clinics, treated and released.

The company also said there was no damage to community infrastructure, with no impact to oil pipelines and fuel deliveries.

The Department of Environmental Conservation said in a situation report that the rig had a capacity of 8,400 gallons of diesel on board. But DEC said it has been unable to get close to the wreckage, due to worries that metal from Rig 26 might fall on response team members.

“Structural hazards continue to limit access,” the report said. “A safety team has been dispatched to evaluate concerns.”

The cause of the accident remains unknown, officials said. According to the DEC report, the wreck happened near a tributary to the Colville river.

ConocoPhillips said Doyon is in charge of a unified command that is managing the response. Neither company agreed to an interview about the incident.

Neither ConocoPhillips nor Doyon have said what can be salvaged from the wreckage – or whether it’s a total loss. It is believed to be one of the largest mobile land drilling rigs in North America.

Community concerns and a lawsuit

The North Slope Borough released a statement about the incident, and a local tribe, Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, sent out an alert about it to residents.

But Nuiqsut resident Colleen Sovalik said she did not receive any official communication about it for many hours, and when she did, it did not bring her reassurance.

“Unfortunately, that was not any information that allowed community members to feel at ease and only heightened concern because we didn’t know if there was more that was happening, and nobody told us about it, or what to expect,” she said. “Also, it didn’t give us any reassurance with any information provided that they were going to do any assessments, independent of what industry was reporting.”

Sovalik said she was also concerned about whether the conditions were too warm to move the rig. The temperatures in the area were around and above freezing on the day of the incident.

“The weather was real warm,” Sovalik said. “I don’t know where that rig was headed… If it was moving (on) the ice, it was not a good decision.”

Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, a former Nuiqsut city mayor and a long-time environmental activist, lives in the community. She said the event highlights the worries some have had about the development in the area.

“We’re very concerned about what this means to our community and whether or not we’re safe in our lands and waters where they’re developing,” she said.

Last month, an environmental law organization Earthjustice filed a lawsuit, challenging the winter-exploration program near Nuiqsut. The lawsuit centered around concerns over how the project will affect subsistence activities and ecological resources, especially near Teshekpuk Lake.

Ian Dooley, an attorney with Earthjustice, said the Doyon rig was being moved for the exploration program.

“One thing that this points to is a concern that we’ve raised from the very beginning about the agency rushing to permit this project without proper or adequate process, without considering the comments and the concerns that have been raised,” Dooley said.

The plaintiffs requested a preliminary injunction to halt the program and are awaiting a legal ruling.

Dooley also said there were also immediate concerns about contamination because the wrecked rig, with diesel on board, is so close to the Colville river tributary.

Record-setting oil rig

In 2022, ConocoPhillips and Doyon set a new long distance drilling record of almost seven miles with Rig 26. Tim Bradner, publisher of the Alaska Economic Report, said both companies were proud of the rig, which they designed and built especially for the Arctic drilling. Bradner said the module was a huge success story for both companies.

“It was significant because it was very specialized for the drilling of these long-distance extended reach wells,” Bradner said. “That enabled a lot of pockets of oil and reservoirs that were difficult to teach from the surface.”

Bradner said Drill 26 was an important milestone for Doyon, capping decades of hard work.

In a court filing over the pending environmental lawsuit, ConocoPhillips said the accident wouldn’t impact its winter drilling plans. It said it would use a substitute drilling rig from Doyon.

Editor’s note: The link to the DEC incident report has been updated with a more permanent webpage. 

With almost 700 participants, Juneau’s annual board game convention sold out for a second time this year. Some people traveled from as far as Indiana and Massachusetts to play at Platypus Con. And the weekend-long event stayed open late — until the early morning hours. 

A lot of players were deep in their games late-night on Saturday. In Centennial Hall, a room full of people competed in a Euchre tournament. In the main ballroom, tables of friends and strangers tried new games while local businesses ran booths selling games they could take home with them.

At one table, Tim Mikulski and friends were diving deep into the annals of capitalism with a game called Flow of History. 

“It’s a card and also a coin economy game,” he said. “So we’re progressing from ancient societies forward. Right now, we’re discovering mercantilism, and yeah, it’s a good competition so far.” 

Mikulski spent most of the day at the convention; at midnight, he was about 10 hours in and counting.  

“We’re feeling ambitious for a late night, but I don’t know if I’m going to close it out,” he said. “Two a.m. feels real far away.”

Platypus Con Creator and President Josh Warren started the convention in 2015. About 130 people attended that first year and it’s since only gotten more popular. Some people come to qualify for state and national championships in games like Catan. 

“A lot of the other board game conventions are just named after the town they started in,” he said. “And I thought that was boring.” So Warren named the convention after his favorite animal instead. 

He was wearing platypus pajamas, fitting for the late hour, but he has other outfit options as well: “I have a platypus full suit with a blazer that I should be wearing because it’s warmer than this. And I do have a platypus mascot costume”

Warren said, after the convention, he’s actually traveling to Australia and New Zealand to see the elusive creatures in person.

Back in the ballroom, Pat Race — who owns the games and comics store Alaska Robotics Gallery in downtown Juneau — ran a booth with his best friend and co-owner. The two of them played a game in between talking to attendees. 

“What a great event this is. The whole community comes out. It’s packed in here all day, and then you get these late night hours and this dwindling, sleepy crowd either hopped up on the chai from these guys over here or they’re cramming pizza,” Race said. “It’s just good, wholesome fun.” 

He said events like Platypus Con bring people together. 

“You get to spend time with people you maybe see in different contexts, and it takes away all that — I don’t know — we have these facades of professionalism, or the ‘getting through the Foodland line’ armor, and so it’s nice to have that all peeled away and just hang out,” Race said.

Barb Lake set down a very tall stack of games to return at the event’s game library, which housed all 2,540 games available to play at the convention.

Her favorite was one called Hues and Cues. 

“It’s like a color matching game,” Lake said.” So somebody has to give you the color that’s on the board, and then everybody puts their chip as close to the color as they can get. It’s really hard, because your perception of what lavender is is very different than what your friends think it is.” 

For Lake, the convention has become an annual tradition. She and her husband have come for the last five years. 

“This is the event of the year for us,” she said.

She said it’s one of her favorite ways to spend time with her friends and meet new people. Learning how to play the games with other people, she said, can bring on a lot of different feelings.

“It is all of the emotions, so it’s frustrating, it’s confusing, it’s hard because you have to figure out how to play something totally new from the rule book, or you have to try and look up a video to learn how to play it,” she said. “So that part can be a challenge, and then when you get it and you like it, it’s like elation.”

Lake said they’ve ended up buying many of the games they’ve played at the convention, and now have their own game library at home to pass the time between conventions.

“We don’t drink, so we don’t go out to the bars. We’re not really, like, into a lot of the other events that go around in town,” Lake said. “But board gaming is what we do.” 

• More than 200 Juneau residents gathered downtown at Overstreet Park last night for a candlelight vigil. They were there to honor a man who was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during protests against ongoing ICE operations,
• Juneau teens and residents are calling on the Alaska Legislature and Governor Mike Dunleavy to call off the state’s longtime push for a natural gas pipeline in Alaska,
• The State Board of Education unanimously approved a school psychology masters program at the University of Alaska Anchorage aimed to address the state’s shortage of school psychologists. The approval took place during the board’s special virtual meeting on Thursday,
• KTOO Morning Host Mike Lane checks in with Representative Andi Story,
• Former Alaska Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum deviated from state policy and failed to perform the necessary due diligence before committing millions in state savings to a private equity fund. That’s the conclusion of an outside review ordered by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration after Crum’s decision came to light last summer