AI and professional photography

Nobody noticed that artificial intelligence has defeated the best photographers

This year's announcement of the winners of the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards 2023 was overshadowed by a scandal. It turned out that professional photographers were defeated in one category by artificial intelligence. And what is perhaps even worse, no one actually noticed before the awarding of the winning author. The organizers of the competition are now acting as if nothing happened.

German photographer Boris Eldagsen dominated the Creative Photography category with an image called Electrician. It depicts two women in the style of black-and-white snapshots that were created in the first half of the last century.

Perhaps the only flaw in the beauty is the fact that this image was created by artificial intelligence.

The winning author said:

“The work chosen by the jury is the result of a complex interplay of rapid engineering and painting that draws on my extensive photographic knowledge. Working with artificial intelligence image generators is a co-creation for me, in which I am the director. It's not about pressing a button - and that's it."

"I am very happy to win the creative category of the Sony World Photography Awards 2023. I have been photographing since 1989, a photomedia artist since 2000. After two decades of photography, my artistic focus has shifted to exploring the creative possibilities of artificial intelligence generators," he admitted after receiving the award Eldagsen.

He immediately gave up the award, saying that he wanted to open a discussion about what can be considered photography in the era of rapid development of image generators.

According to the Petapixel portal, his image was indeed on the list of winners on March 14. However, it was subsequently removed, so it can no longer be found on the official website. Nor is it in the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 exhibition alongside other winning snaps.

The organizers of the competition have not yet officially commented on the whole case.

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My opinion is that artificial intelligence must serve good, constructive progress and meaningful science. It must not be under the leadership of the evil. "As we raise her, so we have her."

I believe nothing can replace what you see through the viewfinder. It is the art of seeing what others cannot see.

Art is a very specific human activity that artists will not want to take away the magic of creating a person. At least I hope so !

Look at that photo again and notice the hands - the AI obviously didn't handle them well. How come the judges didn't notice that?

Artificial inteligence - artificial reality ?

         Thanks for reading

                                           Margaret   (hobby photographer)

Source: Article in Czech