The winner of a major photography award has refused his prize after revealing his work was created using AI.
German artist Boris Eldagsen’s entry, entitled Pseudomnesia: The Electrician, won the creative open category at last week’s Sony World Photography Award.
He said he used the picture to test the competition and to create a discussion about the future of photography.
Organisers of the award told BBC News Eldagsen had misled them about the extent of AI that would be involved.
In a statement shared on his website, Eldagsen admitted he had been a “cheeky monkey”, thanking the judges for “selecting my image and making this a historic moment”, while questioning if any of them “knew or suspected that it was AI-generated”.
“AI images and photography should not compete with each other in an award like this,” he continued.
“They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore I will not accept the award.”
The image in question showed a haunting black-and-white portrait of two women from different generations.
But as Eldagsen pointed out, in his statement: “Something about this doesn’t feel right, does it?” That something, of course, being the fact that it’s not a real photograph at all – but a synthetically-produced image.
The use of AI in everything from song and essay writing, to driverless cars, chatbox therapists and the development of medicine has been widely debated in recent months. Now its appropriateness and utility regarding photography – especially deepfakes – has come into focus.
A spokesperson for the World Photography Organisation, the photography strand of art events organisers Creo, said that during their discussions with the artist, before he was announced as the winner, he had confirmed the piece was a “co-creation” of his image using AI.
He noted his interest in “the creative possibilities of AI generators”, while “emphasising the image heavily relies on his wealth of photographic knowledge”. (BBC)