The image made by artificial intelligence that deceived judges of a great photography prize

[ad_1]

The winner of a grand photography prize turned down his prize after revealing that his work was an artificial intelligence (AI) creation. Photo that Boris Eldagsen entered in contest Boris Eldagsen The winner of a photography grand prize turned down his prize after revealing that his work was an artificial intelligence (AI) creation. German artist Boris Eldagsen’s work, titled Pseudomnesia: The Electrician (“Pseudomnesia: The Electrician”, in free translation), won last week’s Sony World Photography Award creative category. He said he entered the photo in the contest to test how the competition would react to an artificial image and spark a discussion about the future of photography. Prize organizers told BBC News that Eldagsen misled them about how much artificial intelligence was used in the image. In a statement on his website, Eldagsen admitted to being “cheeky”. He thanked the judges for “selecting my image and making this moment historic” and questioned whether any of them “knew or suspected it was AI generated”. “AI imaging and photography should not compete with each other for an award like this,” said the photographer. “They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore, I will not accept the award.” The image in question showed a black and white portrait of two women from different generations. The photographer himself had already hinted that the image did not look true. The use of AI in many aspects of life — from music and rehearsals to driverless cars, chatbox therapists and the development of medicine — has been hotly debated in recent months. The fake photo award raised a debate about its use in photography — especially the so-called deepfakes, images that are very realistic and difficult to detect. A spokesman for the World Photography organization said that during its conversations with the artist, before being announced as a winner, he had confirmed that the piece was a “co-creation” of his image using artificial intelligence. According to the contest organizers, the photographer said he was interested in the “creative possibilities of AI generators”, but emphasized that the image was made with great influence of his “vast knowledge in photography”. “The competition’s creative category accepts a variety of experimental approaches to image creation, from cyanotypes (a technique that produces photos with a bluish tint) and radiographs to cutting-edge digital practices,” they said. “As such, following our correspondence with Boris and the assurances he provided, we felt his entry met the criteria for this category and we support his participation.” “Furthermore, we were eager to participate in further discussion on this topic and we welcome Boris’ desire for dialogue, preparing questions for a Q&A session with him on our website.” “As he decided to refuse his prize, we suspended our activities with him and, at his request, removed him from the competition.” They said they recognized “the importance of this issue [IA] and its impact on image-making today”, but stressed that the awards “always have been and will continue to be a platform to champion the excellence and skill of photographers and artists working in the medium”. ‘I don’t blame Boris’ Eldagsen told BBC who made it clear to the organizers that it also wanted to publicly engage in an “open discussion” on the matter from the beginning of the awards process, but that this did not come to fruition. He also proposed donating the prize to a photography festival held in Odessa, Ukraine. The BBC spoke to another photographer and blogger about the controversy. Feroz Khan said he did not blame the artist for showing that “there is a problem in the photography business”. AI-generated images of photographs (at least at first glance),” he wrote. “Soon it will likely become even more difficult to determine crucial differences unless they are closely examined.” photo contest organizers have separate categories for AI images.” “I appreciate him championing that distinction in photo contests. Yes, he entered an AI image into the competition, but it doesn’t look like he was trying to harm anyone. He wanted to highlight an issue that certainly needs much more attention from everyone.” Khan says Eldagsen had “clearly shown that even seasoned photographers and art experts can be fooled.” The winning and shortlisted images from this year’s Sony World Photography Awards are on display at London’s Somerset House Review by Chris Vallance, BBC Technology Reporter An AI-generated image that won a US art competition last September sparked a debate that has raged ever since. technology seems to be growing by the week. Photographers and artists who were once able to spot the flaws in AI-generated images—something you see in details of hands, for example—are now finding it increasingly difficult. Last month, Tim Flach, president of the Association of Photographers, told me how he was shocked at how easy it was to generate an image of a tiger with AI and the end result looked a lot like a photo he took, in which he had to enter a cage. A photography student who spoke to me at the time worried that his career would still exist in a few years. Many artists and photographers accuse AI systems of unfairly exploiting the works of hundreds of thousands of human creators — some have even sued AI companies. But others simply consider AI just another tool — perhaps a new category of art — but no less important. Photography itself was once considered a new and, for some, threatening invention. But a number of very basic questions remain unclear, including who owns the copyright to an AI image. In addition to images, AI has raised a number of ethical and legal questions that are still unanswered.

[ad_2]

Source link