An incident occurred wherein an actual photo taken by an individual took first place in a synthetic intelligence (AI) photo contest. The photographer explained, “To point out that Mother Nature is more beautiful than AI.” Organizers later canceled the award.
Android Authority announced on the thirteenth that the image called ‘FLAMINGONE’, which won the bronze medal within the AI category of the celebrated photo contest ‘1839 Awards’, was actually found to be a live-action work by photographer Miles Astray.
Based on this, Astray took this photo in 2022 on a beach in Aruba, Caribbean, where flamingos roam. The detailed explanation is that the photo was taken with a Nikon D750 equipped with a 50mm prime lens at f/1.8 and 1/1600 shutter speed.
The issue is that this photo was submitted to an AI photo contest. It is understood that the judges didn’t have any doubts since the photo appeared to haven’t any head on the flamingo on account of the angle of the photo. The judging panel included officials from famous organizations equivalent to the Recent York Times, Christie’s auction house, and Getty Images.
As generative AI has change into more popular, we have now heard that generative AI images have won awards in various contests. Due to this fact, many competitions have created a separate ‘AI field’ to stop mixing with real photos.
Nevertheless, this is sort of the primary time that a photograph taken by an individual has been transformed into an AI image and received an award. Specifically, Astray’s work even received a popularity award based on netizens’ votes.
He later revealed that the winning photo was an actual photo and why he did this.
“I’m sorry to the judges, but I don’t think taking a jab at AI like that is any worse than AI deceiving people,” he said. He also explained, “There may be nothing more incredible and inventive than actual nature. I even have no intention of demonizing latest technologies, but I’m seeing their limitations and risks more clearly.”
Then, the organizer announced, “We fully understand the artist’s intention to convey, and it would bring change to this contest. Nevertheless, we don’t want to interfere with other artists winning within the AI category. After discussion, we have now decided to disqualify the artist.” did.
Reporter Lim Da-jun ydj@aitimes.com
