AI Art generators and the process of transmediation: exploring interpretation and creative screen production with students in a literature and digital media course

Artificial Intelligence (AI) art generators are impacting the way screen content is produced, and this has implications for the way creative processes are taught in educational contexts. In this study, the use of AI to create screen content was investigated through the perspectives of students in a university course, which required them to transfer meaning across modes with and without AI art generators. This process of transmediation with and without AI was explored through the blogs and reflective reports submitted by students as part of their assessment tasks. The study showed that transmediating linguistic texts into visual texts was a meaning-making process that involved interpretation and creativity. The AI art generator could become a collaborator in these interpretive and creative processes, but did not match the capacity of humans to interpret deeper metaphorical meanings or create authentic and intentional texts. The use of AI had a varied impact on how students felt about the activities as they reflected on the images that they were creating. This study contributes to our understanding of the use of AI in the interpretation and creation of texts and has implications for the way students use AI in their practice.