AI IN PHOTOGRAPHY: WHAT’S NOT TO HATE?

Whether or not Artificial Intelligence is the most important technological advance happening in the world at the moment, there is no doubt that it is the most talked about. “Just type in your prompt…” and the Machine will do the rest, creating content, verbal or visual, with minimal effort.

Broadly speaking I am cautious, if not downright negative. As someone has said, “Why should I be bothered to read something that nobody could be bothered to write?” I feel the same way about AI in photography.

AI images are already all around us. In my daughter’s industry – high-end, bespoke celebration cakes – she is used to seeing images of cakes that are completely artificial in origin. “Can you make one like this?” is the request – and the expectation is that the labour cost will be as low as the effort taken to make the computer-generated “photo”.

Over the last few weeks I have noticed how AI images are now being routinely passed off on social media as genuine. This is often done by intelligent people who would never let something like that go by in their own field. One friend, a historian whose scholarship and integrity are impeccable, has posted howler after howler when it comes to fake images of supposed places in Britain. Here is a selection of AI images that I have seen recently on the internet, all of which have fooled at least some people.

It may come as a shock to read that the person who features in the most AI generated images is the current Pope. But perhaps it is not so surprising; he is a very photographed man. AI needs existing photographs to “feed” its “creative powers”. It is easy to find very realistic AI images of anyone in the public eye who is constantly in front of the camera – check out Meghan Markle, Taylor Swift or Donald Trump.

So, the more famous someone is, the easier it is to produce fake images of them. And that goes for fake video and audio too. But even “ordinary” people can be faked: it is taking less and less data at the “input” end – photos, video and speech etc. – to deliver realistic output that can fool even family and close friends. AI in photography has already been used to commit crimes.

Of course, AI in photography is by no means perfect, but it is improving all the time. At present there are still plenty of awful efforts out there, but that will change. Having mentioned Donald Trump, it isn’t hard to find dreadful AI images of him, with finger-number errors and the like. The fact that he himself shared the “praying” image here tells you all you need to know about his integrity.

Here is Donny Boy and a bunch of other bad (even stomach-turning) images…

So are there legitimate uses for AI in photography? I think so, though I am super-cautious. The next blog is going to look at two or three of them. Until then, here’s Donald Trump in armour with a dinosaur on his desk.

Incidentally, talking of dinosaurs, if the header/featured image for this piece seems oddly disconnected from the subject, look again. Did Olly and Sam’s wonderful wedding portrait shoot really have a brontosaurus disappearing into the woods in the background?

I like subtle, see?! Bye for now!

Photos © copyright Andrew King