We are already in a time where people can almost not tell the difference between AI work and human work. In photography, especially, people can now be on pretty much any capable device and be anywhere and generate images that could very well be mistaken to be real by unsuspecting people.
This issue is most concerning for photographers who have built their lives around their works, but Miles Astray had a powerful message with his win in the AI category of the 1839 Awards photography competition with his surreal image - except that his submission was real.
Miles Astray, a 38-year-old photographer and writer for his works, was invited to submit an entry in the AI category of the 1839 Awards photography competition. His submission went on to win both third place and the People's Vote Award in the category for how surreal it was as an "AI photo." Afterwards, Miles revealed that his submission was actually a real photo he took of a flamingo on his trip to Aruba in 2022, titled "FLAMINGONE," and was disqualified.
"I had seen a few examples over the last couple of years where people had entered AI art into real photography competitions, most notably last year at The Sony World Photo Awards, an AI photo won the creative category there. I thought, why not turn this story around and enter a real photo into an AI competition?" Astray told CBS News.
FLAMINGONE is actually a photo of a flamingo scratching its belly, taken in a way that makes the creature look headless, giving it that surreal look as though it was generated by AI. And that was exactly Miles' point.
"I wanted to show that there is a human and emotional quality here that AI cannot generate," said Astray. "The fact that this picture in the end was chosen not only by the jury, but also by public vote, proved that point and I'm very happy about that."
Although, admittedly, the images AI creates can be shockingly realistic - and they keep getting better - there is this subtle, unsettling feeling that something is a little bit off about such images. And Miles' point was that photographers will still have a place, even as we go deeper into this era of AI art.
"I entered this actual photo into the AI category of the 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." Astray said in his Instagram post
He added that he was surprised at the organisers' reaction and appreciation for his "powerful message and that it was an important and timely one."
"Miles' image was just surreal enough to feel like it was created by AI, which gives you an idea of what AI is doing and what kind of imagery we expect," said Lily Fierman, director and co-founder of Creative Resource Collective (which runs the 1839 Awards). "We hope this will bring awareness (and a message of hope) to many photographers worried about Al."
AI in reality doesn't actually "know," and neither does it get inspired in the way that humans do. Like a hyper-intelligent octopus, it is only great at predicting patterns from the data it is trained on. It is better every day and will continue to generate works that are indistinguishable from those by humans, yet it will always lack that human and emotional quality that truly makes things "real."
Unfazed by the disqualification for his stunt, Miles remains ecstatic about how well his message was received worldwide.