Artist declines prestigious photography prize; says he entered AI-generated image to spark 'debate'

A German artist has declined a prestigious photography prize, saying he entered the AI-generated image in order to spark debate, the Independent reported.

"I applied as a cheeky monkey to find out if the competitions are prepared for AI images to enter. They are not," German artist Boris Eldagsen said in a statement on his website about Sony's World Photography Awards.

"We, the photo world, need an open discussion. A discussion about what we want to consider photography and what not. Is the umbrella of photography large enough to invite AI images to enter – or would this be a mistake?"

"With my refusal of the award, I hope to speed up this debate."

Pseudomnesia is another name for a false memory. In this case, perhaps the title of the work is itself served as a quiet allusion to its creation not by way of traditional photography, but by way of artificial intelligence.

SWPA told BBC News that Eldagsen "misled them about the extent of AI that would be involved." The artist has challenged that statement.

Tuesday, In an update to his blog post about the controversial entry, Eldagsen published a scathing, open letter to the SWPA/Creo alongside a chronology of events leading up to his declining the organization's prize.

In the letter, Eldagsen accuses the the organization of ducking press inquiries about his entry until the "international photo community took up the issue on social media."

"So stop saying 'we were looking forward to engaging in a more in-depth discussion on this topic' – it is wrong," Eldagsen wrote, citing a number of interactions with the organization.

Eldagsen says he applied for the prize in December and was informed that he had made the short list on January 13. On March 2, he received word that he had won. On March 3, he replied, telling the organization of his artistic focus on the "creative possibilities of AI generators," and suggesting that Sony might take up the topic as a panel discussion."

"Since I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings here, it is important for me to explain in this email the background of the image you have chosen in as much detail as possible," the quoted exchange with the organization said in part.

In his post, Eldagsen notes that his image and name were removed from the SWPA site. A search of the World Photography Organization's website conducted by TheBlaze yielded zero results for "Eldagsen" and zero results for "pseudomnesia" Tuesday morning.

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