Website Home (ChinaZ.com) June 13 News: Recently, a photograph disguised as an AI-generated image won third place in the "Artificial Intelligence" category of an art photography competition. This incident has prompted us to reconsider the boundaries between artificial intelligence and human art.
Photographer Miles Astray's work, "FLAMINGONE," gained widespread attention after winning in the competition. The photo features a flamingo with a retracted head, appearing as if it were the product of artificial intelligence. However, the photograph is actually a real piece shot by Astray with a camera. Android Authority was the first to notice this anomaly, pointing out that we may have overestimated the capabilities of artificial intelligence in the art field.
The competition, hosted by Creative Resource Collective (CRC), aims to provide resources for art photographers. CRC's co-founder and director, Lily Fierman, stated in a declaration: "We fully appreciate the powerful message conveyed by Miles through his non-AI work. We agree that this is an important, relevant, and timely statement." Nevertheless, CRC removed it from the list of winners as it did not meet the category standards and "considering the artists of other submitted works."
Astray stated in a press release that his goal was to prove that real-life art always surpasses any work generated by artificial intelligence. "The critique of artificial intelligence and its ethical implications surpasses the ethical impact of deceiving the audience, which is, of course, ironic, as that's what artificial intelligence does," he added.
Although Astray hinted on social media that the photo was not an AI creation and invited fans to vote for it, this action did not decisively influence the competition results. Eventually, two professional photographers' AI works replaced his award. Among them, Josh New's "AI Self2" won the People's Choice Award, a portrait piece that combines artificial intelligence and photography.
This year's judges included renowned figures such as Aliya Nimmons, the picture manager of The New York Times, and Lauren Katz, the senior manager of print sales at Getty Images.
This incident once again reminds us of the limitations of artificial intelligence in art creation. Although AI-generated works may be technically realistic, they lack the emotion and intent found in human art pieces. Astray's "FLAMINGONE" resonates with people precisely because it is backed by the real intent and clever composition of a human artist.
This situation not only reveals the limitations of artificial intelligence art but also proves the unique value of human creation. In the future of the art field, no matter how advanced the technology becomes, human creativity and emotion remain irreplaceable.