I felt like one of the only people in this class that sort of engaged with this week’s subject matter, to be honest. That isn’t necessarily the fault of anyone, just the stigma of AI photography and the nature and debate of authenticity.

But I think it is disingenuous to not believe that AI is here to stay, especially considering we have been projecting towards this future across science fiction for decades as “the future” of technology. You don’t need to be a fan of it (I certainly have my skepticisms), but to not be mindful of both its capabilities and its flaws will only be to your own detriment.

I thought the discussion of Amber Terranova’s ‘How AI Imagery is Shaking Photojournalism’ article quite interesting. I thought the term of promptography was quite an apt way to explain it while giving a difference between photography and AI-generated photography. Although a decent part of the discussion was whether or not we should view it as photography, not whether or not the form should exist, which I thought perhaps missed the point of AI capabilities and authenticity. Technology and traditions evolve, and photography shouldn’t be exempt, even if it becomes a sub-category.

My group had an interesting discussion to add to that regarding authorship and creativity. In Terranova’s article, she references Michael Christopher Brown’s AI photoseries that depicts the Cuban exodus that occurred in 2022. He highlights that actually taking photos of the exodus could have caused safety and logistical issues for people trying to emigrate from Cuba. This got me thinking about whether if the technology was invented earlier, how it could contribute to better information in eras such as the cold war (or conversely, lead to easier propaganda?).

My experimentations with it showed me it isn’t as straightforward as one would expect to get coherent, striking pieces like Michael C. Brown achieved, and whether or not you believe it to be photography (I think promptography is very much the way it should be spoken about, more like being a DJ to music than a songwriter is), I think it definitely requires a skillset that is more than meets the eye, and I definitely want to experiment with it more, whether as an editing process or as a canvas.

References:

Amber Terranova, ‘How AI Imagery is Shaking Photojournalism‘, Blind [online magazine], 26 April 2023.