In the ever-growing digital age, artificial intelligence has risen in popularity, and tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini have the ability to compose images, texts and even songs from data collection and pattern recognition.
At NAU, AI has weaved its way into the university’s curriculum. NAU President José Luis Cruz Rivera said in an interview with The Lumberjack on Jan. 22 the 2025-26 academic year will be the year of AI empowerment, calling for AI tools to be used for learning and career development at the university.
In addition, AI literacy courses showed up on student’s Canvas shelves one week before the start of the fall 2025 semester. The courses consist of modules which are curated to educate NAU students on how to properly use AI within the university.
Even though there is a constant push for generative AI in academic and creative spaces, NAU students are countering AI use with their own movement to preserve physical media.
Senior Kiley Goodwin poses in front of the light and sound booth at Prochnow Auditorium, Aug 29. Goodwin, as the event and tech manager at Prochnow Auditorium, plays an integral role in preserving the human aspect of creating movies. Jesenia Mackey-Tarango/Lumberjack
Kiley Goodwin, a senior majoring in theater with an emphasis in design and technology, is one of many NAU students who have shown concern about generative AI in her courses.
“You can just type in a prompt and it just spits something out and it takes all of the humanity out of it,” Goodwin said. “That is what hurts me the most.”
Goodwin said she has a mix of experiences in regards to how professors in the theater department view the usage of generative AI. While some of her professors have a zero-tolerance policy for AI, she said others casually endorse its use for elements of lighting and sound design.
Regardless of the differing views of AI, Goodwin said it is a topic of discussion among her peers and professors in the theater department with Goodwin standing against it.
Goodwin said her love for theater and moviemaking comes from a personal place, leaning toward the behind-the-scenes aspects of these art forms due to her reserved nature and stage fright.
This passion for technical theater production carried Goodwin to NAU, where she applied to SUN Entertainment and Prochnow Auditorium and quickly found community within her staff as they share appreciation for movies and theater.
Now, Goodwin and her coworkers share movies and TV show recommendations, whether it be by word of mouth or the lending of physical copies to one another.
“I just find these spaces, communities and just art in general so important and vital to humans and beings in general,” Goodwin said. “I really hope having these communities and making these friends and groups that believe in the same thing can uplift that and keep it together and not let AI take over.”
Aspen Drake, a senior majoring in creative media and film with a minor in photography, also shares concern for the increase in AI usage within their departments. Drake said they understand its use when editing photos, but they do not think it should replace the process of taking a photo altogether.
Similarly to the theater department at NAU, Drake said students within the communications department oppose the usage of AI and how it is removing people from their fields and passions.
“When you see a photo taken by a person and you see their story with it, it connects you more to them, and whatever story they’re trying to tell,” Drake said.
National Geographic magazines can be found at Bookmans Flagstaff Entertainment and Exchange, Aug 28. Nat Geo magazines provide physical documentation of history and science outside of the web. Photo Illustration, Beck Toms/The Lumberjack
Photography and film production has allowed Drake to explore how they interact with the world around them.
In a project for class, Drake said they used photography to highlight how their perspective changed over the course of time as they photographed places they have not visited in several years.
“There’s something very human about photography, especially certain types of photography and people who do documentary in certain areas of the world,” Drake said. “There’s a feeling with those pictures you can’t replace with a computer.”
The growing use of AI within the creative media and film department has not deterred Drake from making their own movies and photos AI cannot replicate.
Drake said they feel a sense of pride in the ability to share these projects with their friends, hearing the positive things said about the photos and movies they created.
“They’re complimenting me for work I put in and that makes me want to create my own stuff, not having something else do it for me,” Drake said.
VHS tapes have been out of mainstream production for nearly a decade but remain accesible in second hand stores such as Bookmans Flagstaff Entertainment and Exchange, Aug 28. VHS tapes can be collectors items and often contain media that has been lost, changed or otherwise obscured. Photo Illustration, Beck Toms/The Lumberjack
Madison Leona Price, a junior double majoring in creative media and film and advertising, has a more complicated relationship with generative AI.
Price said she has always been creative, wanting her voice to be heard within film, the fine arts and radio. This spanned to making a radio show with her roommate for KJACK Radio called Stellar Grooves and Blues.
She believes AI heavily affects how others’ voices are amplified in the multimedia industry, and said it is “lazy” and “unoriginal” for students and teachers to rely on its usage.
“We’re in communications. If you can’t communicate, then get out,” Price said. “That’s the whole business. If you’re going to focus in on AI doing all of your work, then why bother?”
Price understands generative AI is integrated in many systems like the Adobe apps she uses for her classes and Grammarly, which she uses for sentence structuring due to her dyslexia.
Even with its integration, she recognizes the harm it can do to the environment and the spread of misinformation. Price said she, along with her friends and peers in the communication department at NAU, are very adamantly against the use of AI.
However, she believes AI will never truly go away.
“It’s still going to be there unfortunately, but we need to learn how to use it properly,” Price said. “When to use it, how to use it and morally what is right or wrong.”
Specifically in musical spaces, Price said she does not favor the use of AI for playlist making and playing music. She criticized Spotify’s DJ X feature, which uses generative AI to tailor a user’s playlist, but said it is often inaccurate in predicting her favored genres based on her experiences.
Maurice Petty browses jazz Compact Disks at Bookmans Flagstaff Entertainment and Exchange, Aug 28. Physical ownership and improved audio quality contribute to the resurgence of CDS in the age of music streaming services. Photo Illustration, Beck Toms/The Lumberjack
Price said she believes Generation Z is starting to push back against the need for generative AI in musical spaces.
Along with her peers, Price has collected CDs and vinyl records for years. She noticed her friends thrifting vintage musical technology like iPod Touches and MP3 players, which are items they owned as children.
This changed how Price and her friends interact with music, lessening subscriptions and avoiding advertisements they would usually receive on streaming services. Instead, they opt for a physical version of a song or album.
“We’ve seen the outcry and we’ve seen the rage, and I’m happy it’s happening,” Price said. “We see both sides of the argument and see the side our generation is going towards. That makes me happy that we’re pushing for more change.”
Whether it be through the collection or creation of physical mediums, Price and other NAU students continue to decentralize AI from their lives.