CNN
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A German artist rejects famous international awards photography Revealed that his submission was AI (AI).
Berlin-based Boris Eldagsen won the Creative Open category at this year’s Sony World Photography Awards, with his entry Pseudo-tumor: Electrician.
Creepy black and white images show two women from different generations – older women seem to hang on the young woman behind.
Organizers said they knew about some of the AI’s involvement, but said there had been attempts to “deliberately” mislead them.
Eldarson said he hopes his actions will open up conversations around the issue and lead to “a separate match for the images generated by AI.”
Eldarson said in a statement website He used to be a “shady monkey” to open up the conversation around artificially generated images.
“Thank you for choosing my image and making it a historic moment because it was the first AI-generated image I won in the prestigious (SIC) International Photography Competition. How many of you know or suspect it was made by AI? It’s not true about this, is it?”
He continued: “AI imagery and photography should not compete with each other in awards like this. They are different entities. AI is not photography. So, I would not accept that award.”
He said he applied to “as a cheeky monkey” to find out if he was ready to compete in AI imagery. They are not. ”
“This shows that after this development, the photography world has been surprised to attract you, you can create images that look like photography, but you don’t need to have the skills and expertise of a photographer,” Eldagsen told CNN on Tuesday.
He said AI has made many photographers feel “threatened and afraid that they will lose their jobs.”
Eldagsen said his intention was not to cause trouble, but to have important conversations.
“It’s not about winning anything,” he said. “I’m just testing whether they know if they know – like hackers can’t take advantage of it, but to see if there are weaknesses.”
In further statements on his website, he said he had notified organizers of AI to participate.
Organizers said the most entries were seen in the awards’ 16-year history in 2023. More than 415,000 images were entered in this year’s competition, with more than 180,000 of which are eligible for the professional category.
Three finalists and five to seven finalists were selected in each category. The selected images were taken by photographers from more than 30 countries, from an abandoned cement plant in China to a fish market in Somalia.
The World Photography Organization, which hosts the competition, told CNN in a statement Tuesday that he announced he was the champion during his exchange with Eldagsen, who confirmed the “co-creation” of using AI.
“The creative category of open competition welcomes a variety of experimental approaches, from blue elements and radiators to cutting-edge digital practices,” the organizers said.
“So, following the guaranteed deals we have with Boris and he has provided, we believe his entries meet the criteria in this category and we support his participation. In addition, we look forward to a more in-depth discussion on this topic and welcome Boris’ conversation by preparing dedicated Q&A for his website with his website.
“Like him [Eldagsen] Now that we have decided to reject his award, we have suspended our activities with him and complying with his wishes to get him out of the competition. Given his actions and subsequent statements point to his attempt to deliberately mislead us and thus invalidate the warranty he provided, we no longer feel that we can have a meaningful constructive conversation with him. ”
The statement said the organizers recognized “the importance of the subject and its impact on image production today.”
“While the elements of AI practice are related to the artistic context of image production, the award has always been and will continue to be a platform for excellence and skills to support photographers and artists working in the media,” added the World Photography Organization.
Top Image: Boris Eldagsen’s AI-generated image, titled “Pseudo-tumor: Electrician”, was submitted to the 2023 Sony World Photography Awards and won the first prize in the Creative Open Category.