My struggle is my story

"And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world” – John Steinbeck

There has been a lot of discussion with the role of the fast growing and expanding AI technology in the role of the creative field. The superb computing power available today allows quick scouting of image information on the internet. A recent controversy involved a German photographer who came first place in the creative open category at the Sony World Photography Awards rejected his prize after revealing the image was AI-generated. Boris Eldagsen submitted the photo without any expectation of winning but withdrew himself from the competition when the announcement was made.

Eldagasen isn't the first photographer to test the authenticity of AI photography. Recently, an AI generated imaged fooled judges of an Australian photo competition. According to Eldagasen, he made it very clear the image was AI generated and wanted Sony and Creo to start the conversation about the role of AI prior to the awards ceremony, but it wasn't until multiple media outlets picked up the story did either company release a statement.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4, Eldagasen said "I think it’s very important not to call it AI photography but to call it something within itself." He suggested a term from a discussion online, crediting only 'a Peruvian photographer,' who said "It is Promptography – photography done with prompts." This is as opposed to photography made using light.

With this in person workshop I took, the instructor wrote a lovely piece about my work, and he made comment of how he could play tic tac toe with the square format images I created. I decided to humor him and made this collage of images. When doing this, I can see the gradual formation my visual pathway. I am not certain this will come about if I rely on AI to generate the output by putting in the prompts. Can I say a piece of work comes with my point of view without my actual experience and reaction to the moment? I am not certain about that.

With regards to AI, I can only say "my struggle is my story". I enjoy the process of pulling my hair out, figuring what I am going to do. I like to see how I respond to challenges and what I gain from responding to those challenges. The satisfaction also comes from taking ownership of my ideas. I therefore do not wish to have that creative process taken away from me, so I stay with my traditional way. With that being said, I believe in "whatever floats your boat". I am glad to see there are so many tools out there available for our artistic pursuits.

Writers have portrayed consciousness in all sorts of ways: as what William James called “an alternation of flights and perchings”. It’s the struggle that gives life its texture—constant, absorbing during different stages of life. We are creatures of struggles, and that’s what give life meaning. Photography, for me, is a medium to reflect upon the ups and downs in life. By merely giving prompts to a machine to generate crowd pleasing images will not satisfy my curiosity. I hope there will be continual appreciation for authentic feelings and experience expressed through traditional mediums of art despite the ever-increasing popularity of AI in the modern art world.