The photo work, entitled “Pseudomnesia: The Electrician”, which depicts two women in a dramatic embrace against a gloomy background of vintage photography, won one of the categories of last week’s Sony World Photography Award.
Pseudomnesia: The Electrician
Boris Eldagsen
In a statement shared on his website, Eldagsen admitted he was a “naughty monkey”, thanking the jury for selecting his image and “making it a historic moment”, asking if any of them “knew or suspected that it was an image generated by AI”. “AI imaging and photography should not compete with each other in such an award,” he continued. “They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore, I will not accept the award.”
Eldagsen argues his gesture by the intention to test how prepared the jury of a photography contest is to distinguish between human and artificial genius, but also to create a discussion about the future of photography.
In turn, representatives of the Sony World Photography Award they declared that Eldagsen misled them about the extent of the involvement of artificial intelligence in the production of his photographic work. As a result, relations between them worsened. The World Photography Organization issued a statement saying: “We no longer feel we are able to engage in a meaningful and constructive dialogue with him”.
The incident comes amid growing talk about the extent to which AI will be able to replace us in areas that we have so far not ceded to machines. It’s becoming increasingly clear that these discussions are no longer just to amuse us about how much and how quickly our lives will begin to resemble Science-Fiction. We are already there. And with that, artificial intelligence is becoming a new source of anxiety for a generation of employees, who have already entered their professional lives with doubts and existential questions.
In this regard, there are some interesting facts. For example, those published in March by Goldman Sachs, according to which AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million jobs full time. Last year, PricewaterhouseCoopers’ annual global workforce survey found that nearly a third of respondents they said they were worried by the prospect that their role could be replaced by technology within three years.
Even if we like to repeat that what AI generates is soulless, without depth, without nuances and subtleties, and we humans remain the crown of creation, artificial intelligence is developing according to the model of Făt-Frumos: one day as in one year. The award given by Sony World Photography to Boris Eldagsen comes to confirm it. The AI-created photo was deep enough to impress a well-versed jury with an eye trained to see soul and nuance in images, and you’d attribute human origin.
Should we stress? No, because it doesn’t help. We just have to accept that the world is changing.
