AI Image Wins Sony Photography Competition, Artist Turns Down Award Worth $5000

New Delhi: In one-of-its-kind case, an arist named Boris Eldagsen refused to take the award worth of $5000 after winning the first prize in Sony Photography competition. He revealed during the award ceremony that he had taken the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create the award winning image and stated that he only wanted to see if such competitions are prepared for AI images.

“Thank you for selecting my image and making this a historic moment, as it is the first AI generated image to win in a prestigous international PHOTOGRAPHY competition. How many of you knew or suspected that it was AI generated? Something about this doesn’t feel right, does it? AI images and photography should not compete with eachother in an award like this. They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore I will not accept the award," Eldagsen said while refusing the award during the function.

The Berlin-based ‘Photomedia artist’ Boris Eldagsen took part in the the World Photography Organization's Sony World Photography Awards. The competition offers the prizes worth $5000 cash and Sony camera equipment.  

Eldagsen's Image 'The Electrician'

Eldagsen’s image called ‘The Electrician’ in the creative categroy, which illustrates the visual language of the 1940s. Two women appeared in the image that seemed very old.

"I applied as a cheeky monkey to find out if the competitions are prepared for AI images to enter. They are not. We, the photo world, need an open discussion. A discussion about what we want to consider photography and what not. Is the umbrella of photography large enough to invite AI images to enter – or would this be a mistake?" Eldgasen stated his purpose.

He wrote on his website that he informed the competition team about the image being genreated with the help of AI.

What is Generative AI?

Generative AI is a form of artificial intelligence that is capable of generating creative content, such as images, music, text, and even entire videos, without any human intervention. It uses machine learning algorithms to analyze and learn from large datasets, and then uses this knowledge to create new content that resembles what it has learned.

One of the most common forms of generative AI is text generation, where the algorithm learns from a large corpus of text and generates new text that is similar in style and tone. This can be used for a variety of purposes, such as generating news articles, social media posts, or even creative writing.

Another popular application of generative AI is image and video generation, where the algorithm learns from a large set of images or videos and then generates new content that is similar in style and composition. This can be used for a variety of applications, such as creating realistic 3D models, generating new art, or even producing entire movies.