After forfeiting his first place prize, artist Boris Eldagsen has sparked debate on the role of AI in the future of photography.
When German artist Boris Eldagsen’s photo The Electrician was initially selected for competition in the World Photography Organization’s 2023 Sony World Photography Awards, the artist seemed happy his “image”—as he referred to it—made the cut. Yet, after winning first prize in the contest’s creative category in early April, the artist wrote in an open letter on his website that he would not be accepting his award, revealing that his entry had been created using AI technology: “Thank you for selecting my image and making this a historic moment, as it is the first AI generated image to win in a prestigous [sic] international PHOTOGRAPHY competition… AI images and photography should not compete with each other in an award like this. They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore I will not accept the award.” Eldagsen expressed his wish that the prize money go to the Odesa Photo Days photography festival in Ukraine.
Over the past several months, free AI tools that create images out of simple prompts have become easily accessible and incredibly popular with the general public, sparking much discussion about the ethics of art created in this way. The Electrician, which portrays two women in the photographic style of the early twentieth century, is part of Eldagsen’s Pseudomnesia collection, a series of images “imagined by language” and re-edited dozens of times through AI image generators, with techniques such as “inpainting” (restoring missing parts of images), “outpainting” (continuing images beyond their original borders) and “prompt-whispering” (using detailed, specific language to get better quality images). In a description of the collection, Eldagsen writes that, as the future of art, AI will soon replace photography in the reproduction of reality, just like photography replaced painting with the invention of the camera.
Eldagsen has revealed that his deception was an attempt to force an open discussion on the definition of photography: should we consider AI generated art photography, a completely different medium, or something in between? The World Photography Organization, however, has expressed displeasure with Eldagsen’s work and response to winning, releasing a statement reading, “given his actions and subsequent statement noting his deliberate attempts at misleading us, and therefore invalidating the warranties he provided, we no longer feel we are able to engage in a meaningful and constructive dialogue with him.” The organization also claims to have been aware of Eldagsen’s use of AI, alleging that its judges were initially supportive of the artist’s participation and looking forward to a more in-depth discussion on the merits and limitations of AI. As of today, communication between Eldagsen and the organization has been completely cut off, so it seems unlikely that constructive dialogue will take place between the two.
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