Astray’s entry — which had received each third place within the class and the Individuals’s Vote award — was disqualified after the photographer revealed the reality. Nevertheless, Astray instructed The Washington Publish, “F L A M I N G O N E” completed its mission nonetheless: sending a poignant message to a world grappling with ever-advancing, highly effective know-how and the profusion of faux photographs it brings.
“My purpose was to indicate that nature is simply so unbelievable and inventive, and I don’t assume any machine can beat that,” Astray instructed The Publish. “However, alternatively, AI imagery has superior to a degree the place it’s indistinguishable from actual pictures. So the place does that go away us? What are the implications and the pitfalls of that? I feel that may be a essential dialog that we have to be having proper now.”
On the subject of AI-generated pictures, a lot consideration has fallen on its weird outcomes: the Pope clad in a Balenciaga-style puffer jacket, a melted-face Elon Musk tanning on Mars, a flood of individuals with too many tooth or too many fingers. But the know-how has additionally enabled the proliferation of deepfakes — photographs that might be used for extra nefarious objectives, comparable to upending elections or spreading disinformation. In inventive circles, it’s led to debates about job safety and honest compensation. It’s all resulted in worldwide calls to control the know-how.
As Astray sees it: “Expertise itself isn’t inherently good or dangerous. It’s how we apply it, proper? So I feel we actually must get forward of that now; in any other case, it’s going to be very tough to meet up with it.”
That’s partly what prompted Astray to have interaction in some trickery, which was impressed by comparable stunts in recent times. However these different circumstances have concerned AI-generated photographs profitable pictures prizes — “that’s why I approached this from the opposite aspect.”
For about two years, the 38-year-old globe-trotting photographer had been mulling over the “surreal photograph of an already surreal-looking kind of chicken” he had shot on a pristine seaside off the coast of Aruba. That sunny day, Astray had left round 5 a.m. on the primary boat certain to a tiny island identified for its flock of flamingos, hoping to beat the crowds. When he bought there, he noticed a shiny pink chicken “doing its morning routine” and cleansing its feathers, he stated. The “very fortunate shot” captured the flamingo mid stomach scratch.
Over the previous few years, he thought the funny-looking chicken might be the proper medium for his AI protest, “however there weren’t quite a lot of competitions with the class.” Alternative got here knocking late final yr when the Inventive Useful resource Collective requested whether or not he’d prefer to enter the 1839 Awards’ Colour Pictures Contest, which is judged by an array of business specialists from the Centre Pompidou, the New York Occasions and Getty Photos, amongst others.
“I felt dangerous about deceiving them,” stated Astray, who added that he disclosed to Inventive Useful resource Collective that the picture was not AI-generated when the group emailed him to let him know he had received. “And it goes with out saying that they made the suitable determination in disqualifying me out of equity to the opposite members in that class that submitted actual AI imagery.”
In a press release to The Publish, Lily Fierman, director of Inventive Useful resource Collective, stated that whereas the group absolutely appreciates the “highly effective message Miles relayed along with his submission,” it moved to disqualify him as a result of Astray’s picture didn’t meet the class’s necessities.
The stand-alone AI class, the primary within the contest’s historical past, Fierman stated, “was supposed to be an area for artists working on this new medium. For instance, we didn’t need people who journey to the ends of the Earth to seize unbelievable animals or landscapes to compete with AI.”
Nonetheless, she added, “we hope this can elevate consciousness (and ship a message of hope) to different photographers who’re fearful about AI.” Now, Fierman added, Inventive Useful resource Collective is working with Astray to publish a weblog put up on the subject. “As an artist, his voice will make a distinction on this dialog,” she stated.
Astray, whose work focuses on “capturing the world as-is,” stated he wasn’t anticipating that optimistic response — nor the a whole lot of “hilarious, considerate and heartfelt feedback” he has obtained throughout social media.
“All these are human qualities that AI can by no means replicate or relate to,” he stated. “I feel that’s lovely and it’s part of that message that I initially needed to ship. Really, all of that mixed is the message.”
