He did (and continues to do) discuss the award won – and then rejected on the London awards stage – by the German Boris Eldagsen at the Sony World Photography Awards, one of the world‘s leading photography competitions. The image “PSEUDOMNESIA | The Electrician”which came first in the “Creativity” category of the Open section (which rewards single shots, ndr.), was, in fact, created by artificial intelligence. Eldagsen suggested donating the award to a photography festival hosted in Odessa, Ukraine. However, this is neither the first case of a prize refused (think of Jean Paul Sartre who, in 1964 did not accept the Nobel Prize), nor the first artistic prize won by an artificial intelligence: last August, in fact, a work created by Midjourney won the Colorado State Fair contest, sparking debate as recalls the New York Times.
THE SUBJECT – The image is a poignant black and white portrait of two women from different generations, reminiscent of the visual language of 1940s family portraits. Eldagsen – as declared in the post published on her blog at the award ceremony – wanted to reflect on the intrinsic concept of photography generated by a machine. The author thanked the organization “for selecting my image and making this a historic moment, as it is the first AI-generated image to win a prestigious photography competition international. How many of you knew or suspected that it was generated by AI? Something doesn’t add up, right? AI images and photography shouldn’t be competing with each other in an award like this. They are different entities. Artificial intelligence is not photography. Therefore I will not accept the prize”.
THE REPLY – Sony’s official website has removed the image of the winning work, including from the exhibition at Somerset House. A provocative operation that opens the doors to a reflection certainly necessary, even if there are those who point out how the author could have renounced the prize before the official award ceremony and how artificial intelligence today can hardly replace photographic projects such as those that have been awarded (think of the Libyan portraits by Edgar Martins). Eldagsen’s operation comes at a time of intense debate about the use and implications of AI. Which, it should be remembered, is not photography. As reported by the Guardian, a spokesman for the World Photography Organization said Eldagsen had confirmed to them the “co-creation” of the image using artificial intelligence before being announced as the winner: “The creativity category of the open competition welcomes various experimental approaches to image creation. Therefore, based on the assurances he provided, we deemed his entry met the criteria for this category and supported his participation. Furthermore, we looked forward to engaging in a more in-depth discussion on this matter and have welcomed his desire for dialogue, preparing questions for a dedicated Q&A on our website”. But, “because he has now decided to decline his award, we have suspended our activities with him and, in in line with his wishes, we have removed him from the competition. Given his actions and the subsequent statement revealing his deliberate attempts to mislead usand thus invalidating the guarantees he has provided, we no longer feel capable of engaging in a meaningful and constructive dialogue with him.”