{"id":172435,"date":"2024-06-20T16:07:36","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T16:07:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culture.org\/?p=172435"},"modified":"2024-06-20T16:07:36","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T16:07:36","slug":"human-disqualified-ai-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culture.org\/art-and-culture\/human-disqualified-ai-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"AI vs. Human Creativity Debate: Photographer Disqualified for Winning AI Contest with Real Photo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Miles Astray\u2019s real photo of a flamingo won in an AI image category at the 1839 Color Photography Awards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The contest&#8217;s organizers disqualified the entry, leading to an important conversation about AI and human creativity.<\/span><\/p>\n           <!--  <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n                jQuery(document).ready(function() {\r\n                    jQuery(\".key-accordion-item .key-menu\").on(\"click\", function() {\r\n                        if (jQuery(this).parent().hasClass(\"active\")) {\r\n                            jQuery(this).next().slideUp();\r\n                            jQuery(this).parent().removeClass(\"active\");\r\n                        } else {\r\n                            jQuery(\".key-content\").slideUp();\r\n                            jQuery(\".key-accordion-item\").removeClass(\"active\");\r\n                            jQuery(this).parent().addClass(\"active\");\r\n                            jQuery(this).next().slideDown();\r\n                        }\r\n                    });\r\n                })\r\n            <\/script> -->\r\n\r\n\r\n            <!-- start html -->\r\n\r\n            <div class=\"news-key-takeaway-wapper\">\r\n                                <span style=\"background-color:#4db2ee;\">Key Takeaways<\/span>\r\n                <ul class=\"news-key-nbox\" style=\"border-color:#4db2ee;background-color:rgba(77, 178, 238, 0.1);\">\r\n                                                        <li>A real photo by Miles Astray won an AI image contest, sparking a debate on AI versus human creativity.<\/li>\r\n                                                                    <li>The 1839 Color Photography Awards disqualified Astray\u2019s photo to keep the contest fair for everyone.<\/li>\r\n                                                                    <li>Astray\u2019s actions highlight the ongoing discussion about the impact of AI-generated content on the creative industry.<\/li>\r\n                                                <\/ul>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            \n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An Unexpected Twist: Real Photo Wins AI Image Contest<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After a real photograph won in the AI image category, photographer <\/span><b>Miles Astray was disqualified from the 1839 Color Photography Awards.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His photo, <\/span><b>a surreal image of &#8216;FLAMINGONE,&#8217; won third place<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the People\u2019s Vote Award. Astray aimed to show that human creativity still outshines machine-made content.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I wanted to show that nature can still beat the machine and that real work from real creatives has value,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d Astray told PetaPixel via email.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>He was inspired to challenge the trend <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/culture.org\/art-and-culture\/ai-generated-art-sparks-controversy-in-photography-and-art-competitions\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI-generated images<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">winning photography contests by submitting a real photo into an AI category.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Judging and Disqualification: The Competition\u2019s Reaction<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 1839 Color Photography Awards are<\/span><b> judged by experts from places like The New York Times, Getty Images, and Christie\u2019s.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite their expertise, <\/span><b>they didn\u2019t realize Astray\u2019s photo was real<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The contest includes various categories, with AI-generated images being the only non-camera-based category.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The organizers appreciated Astray\u2019s message but disqualified his entry <\/span><b>to keep the competition fair.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our contest categories are defined to ensure fairness and clarity for all participants,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d said a spokesperson.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They recognized Astray\u2019s point but emphasized the need for fair competition in the AI category.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Making a Point About Human Creativity<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Astray wanted to show that <\/span><b>human creativity and the beauty of nature are still valuable<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, even with advanced AI.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He got the idea after seeing AI-made images win over real photos in other contests. In turn, he wanted to prove that human creativity and nature are still unique and vital.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Industry Reactions and Ethical Issues<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 1839 Color Photography Awards have many categories, but AI is the only one not based on on-camera work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Astray\u2019s photo didn&#8217;t fit the AI category rules, it <\/span><b>sparked a big conversation in the industry<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lily Fierman, a co-founder of the awards, said they appreciated Astray\u2019s message but needed to be fair to other artists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">German artist Boris Eldagsen, known for his AI-made image that won the Sony World Photography Awards in 2023, <\/span><b>praised Astray\u2019s move<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Astray\u2019s action was a rare win for human photographers. \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI-generated content is a big topic, especially among creatives<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is an important public debate about the benefits and pitfalls of this game-changing technology that I wanted to contribute to.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moving Forward in the AI vs. Human Creativity Debate<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Miles Astray&#8217;s clever trick in the 1839 Color Photography Awards has greatly impacted the industry.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By challenging these competitions, he has <\/span><b>sparked meaningful conversations about the value of human creativity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in a world increasingly influenced by AI.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While AI technology continues to grow and improve, Astray\u2019s actions remind us of human creativity&#8217;s unique and irreplaceable value.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His experiment encourages artists and the public to think deeply about the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/culture.org\/art-and-culture\/ai-art-controversy\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">role of AI in the arts<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the importance of keeping human creativity at the forefront.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":10026,"featured_media":172437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[410],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-and-culture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172435"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10026"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}