2023-04-19 17:34:00
Berlin-based photographer Boris Eldagsen, by his own admission, has been submitting his work for one of the most prestigious awards – the Sony World Photography Award for many years, but has never won this competition. This year, his photo “Pseudomnesia: The Electrician” won in the Creative category. The retro-style photo shows two women: they look alike, both with big eyes and short haircuts, like mother and daughter.
According to the author, this image was created in part with the help of artificial intelligence. “My share of participation in the creation process is 50-70 percent,” Boris Eldagsen explained on his website. In the same place, he described in chronological order the fate of the picture: from applying for the competition to winning, and then refusing the award. According to Eldagsen, he promptly informed the organizers of the competition about the history of the creation of the winning image.
The jury did not recognize artificial intelligence
At the same time, the situation with the participation of AI turned out to be ambiguous. The organizers and some media believe that the photographer misled everyone. Therefore, Eldagsen published on his website excerpts from his correspondence and explanation that from his point of view, everyone was informed in time.
Among other things, he wrote that after two decades of working with photography, his artistic taste is more and more inclined to explore the creative possibilities of AI, and also that he is actively working as an expert in this field and would be interested in discussing the chances and risks of image generators. . Eldagsen also said that he had specially submitted a work made with the help of artificial intelligence to the competition. According to him, he wanted to provoke a discussion on this topic in the photography community, and to check whether the jury members are prepared to distinguish between photos taken in the classical way and with the help of AI. As it turned out – no. “AI images and photographs should not compete in the same category. They are different things,” the photographer wrote in his explanation for the rejection of the award. The purpose of Boris Eldagsen’s action is to draw attention to the discussion about the role of artificial intelligence in photography: “We urgently need an open discussion in the world of photography about what we want to consider photography and what not.”
However, the use of artificial intelligence to create creative works has not only raised concerns among the Sony World Photography Award jury, but is likely to be a topic for great discussion in the near future. Over the past few weeks, various photographs have been circulating on the Internet, created with the help of or by artificial intelligence itself. Among others, a photograph allegedly of Vladimir Putin kneeling in front of Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as an image of Donald Trump allegedly surrounded by police officers who arrested him, or a photo of Pope Francis in a fashionable white down jacket attracted particular attention. All the shots looked very believable, if we talk about their technical performance. At the same time, they were easily and quickly identified as forgeries due to their plot composition. However, more and more improved algorithms and neural networks are already able to blur the line between reality and fiction, as the case of the Berlin photographer Boris Eldagsen clearly demonstrated.
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