German photographer admits prize-winning image was AI-generated

Kaan Pinar -

In a surprising twist, German artist Boris Eldagsen has declined a prestigious photography award upon revealing that his winning image, "The Electrician," was actually generated using OpenAI's DALL-E 2 AI system.

  • Eldagsen's piece had snagged the top spot in the creative category at the World Photography Organization's Sony World Photography Awards.

Why and How: Eldagsen, who has been a photo-media artist since 2000, cheekily submitted the work to test if photography competitions are prepared to embrace AI-generated images. Spoiler alert: they're not.

  • In a post on his website, Eldagsen shared that after decades of traditional photography, he's now diving into the creative possibilities of AI generators.
  • "The Electrician" was crafted through a blend of "prompt engineering, inpainting, and outpainting," all while leveraging his photography know-how.
  • But alas, Eldagsen concluded that "AI is not photography" and therefore chose to "not accept the award."

The Response: While Eldagsen sees himself as a "co-creator" with AI, the World Photography Organization begs to differ. They argue that the artist was deliberately misleading, and as a result, they're unable to "engage in a meaningful and constructive dialogue" with him.

PS: Here is the full image below. I mean come on, you can pretty much tell from the hands...