AI Prize Recipient Disqualified After Submitting a Real Photograph

For better and worse, the creative industry is one of the biggest industries that has been impacted by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). On one end, users are able to moodboard, and many instances, bypass numerous hurdles to realizing a creative thought or brief in a matter of seconds — without the need of rigorous sketches, camera crews or creative collaborations. On the opposite spectrum, it’s been reported numerous times that these machine learning systems are illegally using the intellectual property of millions of artists without consent or repercussion, setting the stage for what many creative professionals fear to be an uncertain landscape going forward.

In April of 2023, an AI-produced image created a storm of controversy when it won Sony’s World Photography Awards. To the company’s defense, it was not aware of the means in which the image was produced — but the fact that it wasn’t able to be detected, signaled the real threat to the future of photography industry. To flip the scenario, photographer Miles Astray recently won the third-place prize for an AI photo competition, but was disqualified when he revealed that his submission was indeed a real photograph.

Astray’s image depicts a flamingo with it’s head is tucked away from the camera, as it stands against a sandy beach with the ocean just creeping in the distance. Entitled F L A M I N G O N E, the artwork is meant to signal the importance of pictures made by humans. He explained further:

“With AI-generated content remodelling the digital landscape rapidly while sparking an ever-fiercer debate about its implications for the future of content and the creators behind it – from creatives like artists, journalists, and graphic designers to employees in all sorts of industries – I entered this actual photo into the AI category of 1839 Awards to prove that human-made content has not lost its relevance, that Mother Nature and her human interpreters can still beat the machine, and that creativity and emotion are more than just a string of digits.”

It should come as no surprise that Astray’s image was disqualified, but the real prize, according to the photographer, was a win “for many creatives out there,” he added. “I won’t go as far as to say that it’s a win for Mother Nature herself because I think she’s got bigger things on her plate; who knows, maybe AI can help her with that, by computing climate change models and the likes.”