WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Trick, treat or tech?
Students at The Greene School are putting a high-tech twist on Halloween, combining artificial intelligence with traditional art, woodworking, music and theater for an annual Haunted Hall that has been a year in the making.
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WPTV reporter Christy Waite went inside the school to check out the creations firsthand and see how students are using AI to help bring their imaginations to life.
Nearly the entire first floor of the high school has been transformed for the project. Students are serving up tricks, treats and tech, with creations ranging from a handcrafted graveyard to a life-size wooden haunted carriage.
"It really shows how our students can manifest their ideas into reality through collaboration and believing in their imagination," high school visual arts instructor Sarah Knouse said.
But there's more than hocus pocus bringing some of the creations to life; they are using AI. Students in the school's AI Apps and Innovation class created moving portraits and floating heads, using technology to add another dimension to the Haunted Hall.
"We get so much done, and we can do so much more, and we can create such a space where it really looks haunted, and it has that vibe," senior Lilyana Martin said.
For students, the project is also giving them hands-on experience with a technology that is becoming an increasingly important part of the world around them.
"Almost everything is going to be AI. It’s very powerful. You can make creative, great things with it," freshman Markeith Bodwell-Gosier.
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AI, however, is only part of the project.
From art and woodworking to music and theater, students across different disciplines contributed to the experience. Live student musicians provide another layer of atmosphere as visitors make their way through the halls.
Students also conjured up some school spirit, serving up a monster mash buffet of creepy ceramic food creations, including brains and bones.
"It's great. All of the art programs get to be a part of this, and it’s honestly an honor to get to do the Haunted Hall,” Martin said.
The project also offers a look at one way artificial intelligence can complement, rather than replace, the ideas students develop themselves.
"I think there is a time and a place for this technology as long as it is dovetailing with the original concepts and creativity you already have, It can be that catalyst to push the idea forward," Knouse said.
For these students, that means combining new technology with the art, music, theater and hands-on skills they are already learning.
