CNN
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A German artist has rejected a prize of a prestigious international photography competition after revealing that his submission was generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
Boris Eldagsen, based in Berlin, won the Creative Open category in the Sony World Photography award this year with its entry “Pseudomnesia: The Electrician”.
The spooky black and white image shows two women of different generations: the older woman who appears to hang the youngest woman from behind.
The organizers said they realized some participation of AI, but said there had been “deliberate” attempts to deceive them.
Eldagsen said he expected his actions to open the conversation on the subject and led to “separate competitions for images generated by AI.”
Eldagsen said in a shared statement on his website that he had a “shameless monkey” in an attempt to open the conversation about artificial generated images.
“Thank you for selecting my image and making this a historical moment, since it is the first image generated by AI in winning in a prestigious international photography competition (sic). How many of you knew or suspended that it was generated? Anything about this doessn?”
He continued: “The images and photography of AI should not compete with each other in a prize like this. They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore, I will not accept the prize.”
He said he applied “as a shameless monkey” to find Er’s competition “that are preparing for Ia’s images to enter. They are not.”
Eldragsen told CNN on Tuesday: “He shows that at this time the photographic world has bone tasks by surprise after this development that can subtly create images that seem photographs, but does not need to have the skills and experts of photographs.”
He said that AI had left many photographers feeling “threatened and fearful that they will lose their jobs, what will happen.”
Eldagsen said his intention was not to create problems, but to open an important conversation.
“It wasn’t about winning anything,” he said. “I was doing a test to see if they were aware, like a hacker that pirate a system to not explode it, but to see if there are weaknesses.”
In other statements on his website, he said he had informed the organizers of the participation of the AI.
The organizers said that 2023 had seen the largest number of tickets in the 16 -year history awards. More than 415,000 images were entered in this year’s competitions, with more than 180,000 of them eligible for professional categories.
Three finalists were chosen, as well as five to seven preselected photographers, in each category. The selected images were filmed by photographers from more than 30 countries in places ranging from an abandoned cement factory in China to a fish market in Somalia.
The World Photography Organization, which directs the competition, told CNN in a statement on Tuesday that, during the exchanges of the competition with Eldragsen before announcing it as winner of the category on March 14, he had confirmed the “co-creation” of this of this of this of this.
“The creative category of open competition welcomes several experimental approaches for the manufacture of images from cyanotypes and Rayographers to digital avant -garde practices,” the organizers said.
“As such, after our correspondence with Boris and the guarantees it caused, we felt that the entrance fulfilled the criteria for this category, and we support their participation. In addition, we hope to participate in a free wise dialogue preparing questions for a dedicated one with him for our website.
“Like Hey [Eldagsen] Now he has decided to reject his prize, we have suspended our activities with him and, according to his wishes, have eliminated him from the competition. Given his actions and his subfertent statement pointing out his deliberate attempts to deceive us and, therefore, invalidate the guarantees he provides, we no longer feel that we can participate in a significant and constructive dialogue with him. ”
The statement said the organizers recognize “the importance of this issue and its impact on the creation of images today.”
“While the elements of AI practices are relevant in artistic image manufacturing contexts, the awards have always been and will continue to be a platform to defend the excellence and ability of photographers and artists working in the middle,” the World Photophy organization.
Upper image: The image generated by Ia de Boris Eldagsen entitled ‘Pseudomnesia: The Electrician’ was sent to the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 and won the first prize in the Creative Open category.
