CNN
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The German artist refused the award of a prestigious international competition photo competition after it was discovered that his entry had been created Artificial intelligence (AI).
Boris Eldagsen from Berlin won the creative open category at this year's Sony World Photography Award with his work Pseudomnesia: Electric.
The eerie black and white image shows two women of different generations, with the older woman appearing to be holding onto the younger woman from behind.
Organizers said they were told there was some AI involvement but noted there were “deliberate” attempts to mislead them.
Eldagsen said he hopes his actions will revive the debate on the issue and lead to “separate AI image competitions.”
Eldagsen announced this in a statement published on his page. website that he was a “cheeky monkey” in trying to start a conversation about artificially created images.
“Thank you for choosing my image and making it a historical moment as it is the first image created by AI to win the prestigious (sic) international PHOTOGRAPHY competition. How many of you knew or suspected that it was created by AI? There's something wrong with that, isn't it?”
He continued: “AI images and photography should not compete with each other for such an award. They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore, I will not accept this award.”
He said he applied “like a cheeky monkey” to see “if competitions were ready for AI images. This is wrong”.
Eldagsen told CNN on Tuesday: “It shows that at the moment the world of photography has been caught off guard by this event: you can subtly create images that look like photographs, but you don't need the skills and experience of photographers.”
He said AI has made many photographers feel “threatened and afraid that they will lose their jobs, which is what will happen.”
Eldagsen said his intention was not to create trouble, but to start an important conversation.
“It wasn’t about winning,” he said. “I was just doing a test to see if they knew about it – like a hacker who breaks into a system not to exploit it, but to see if there are any weaknesses in it.”
In further statements on his website, he said he had informed the organizers of AI's participation.
Organizers said 2023 saw the highest number of entries in the prize's 16-year history. This year, more than 415,000 images were submitted to the competition, with more than 180,000 qualifying for the professional categories.
Three finalists were selected in each category, along with five to seven shortlisted photographers. The selected images were captured by photographers from more than 30 countries in locations ranging from an abandoned cement factory in China to a fish market in Somalia.
The World Photography Organization, which runs the competition, told CNN in a statement Tuesday that during an exchange with Eldagsen before he was announced as the category winner on March 14, he confirmed the image was “co-created using artificial intelligence.”
“The creative category of the open competition welcomes a variety of experimental approaches to image creation, from cyanotype and radiography to advanced digital practices,” organizers said.
“As such, following our correspondence with Boris and the assurances he provided, we felt that his application met the criteria for this category and supported his participation. Additionally, we looked forward to a more in-depth discussion of this topic and welcomed Boris's desire for dialogue by preparing questions for a special Q&A series with him for our website.
“How is he [Eldagsen] now decided to refuse the award, we suspended our activities with him and, in accordance with his wishes, removed him from the competition. Given his actions and subsequent statement noting his deliberate attempts to mislead us and therefore invalidate the guarantees he provided, we no longer feel we can engage in meaningful and constructive dialogue with him.”
The statement said organizers recognize “the importance of this topic and its impact on image-making today.”
“While elements of artificial intelligence practice are relevant in the artistic context of image making, the awards have always been and will continue to be a platform for championing the excellence and excellence of photographers and artists working in this field,” the World Photography Organization added.
Image above: Boris Eldagsen's AI-generated image entitled “Pseudomnesia: Electric” was submitted to the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 and won first prize in the open creative category.
