Photographer Wins Photography Award With AI-Generated Image

Artists are all whining and saying “oh AI isn’t as good as real art.”

In many cases, it actually is already.

But imagine where it will be in 3 or 5 years?

All visual artists and most writers are basically out of a job already. They’re just waiting for their notices.

Ironically, the AI art is bound to be better than what is being produced now.

The Guardian:

A photographer is refusing a prestigious award after admitting to being a “cheeky monkey” and generating the prize-winning image using artificial intelligence.

The German artist Boris Eldagsen revealed on his website that he was not accepting the prize for the creative open category, which he won at the Sony world photography awards.

The winning photograph depicted two women from different generations in black and white.

In a statement on his website, Eldagsen, who studied photography and visual arts at the Art Academy of Mainz, conceptual art and intermedia at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, and fine art at the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication in Hyderabad, said he “applied as a cheeky monkey” to find out if competitions would be prepared for AI images to enter. “They are not,” he added.


Did nobody look at the hands carefully?

“We, the photo world, need an open discussion,” said Eldagsen. “A discussion about what we want to consider photography and what not. Is the umbrella of photography large enough to invite AI images to enter – or would this be a mistake?

“With my refusal of the award I hope to speed up this debate.”

He said this was a “historic moment” as it was the first time an AI image had won a prestigious international photography competition, adding: “How many of you knew or suspected that it was AI generated? Something about this doesn’t feel right, does it?

“AI images and photography should not compete with each other in an award like this. They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore I will not accept the award.”

Eldagsen suggested donating the prize to a photo festival hosted in Odesa, Ukraine.

Soon, AI is gonna get so advanced we won’t be able to tell blank canvases made by it from those made by “real” artists.