Whether you like AI or not, I think it is important to keep up with what it is doing. I know I have seen images and thought is it real? My husband and I were looking at a video recently and wondered if it was real or AI. We did some research and found it was AI. It is getting better and better all the time.
I would never pass of images that I created with AI as my own. While it is my imagination, they are not images that I have taken myself.
I tried asking AI to create some images of Australia. Some were totally off, like the ones of Melbourne I tried. It never looks anything like it. I tried some other places, but I ended with these three sets.
Create an image of central australia in the peak of summer
This was the first lot I asked for and I have to admit, I was impressed. This could be Central Australia. I wouldn’t go looking for this place as I’m sure it doesn’t exist.
Create images of the great barrier reef with lots of marine life and coral
I wondered what would happen if I asked Photoshop to create some images of the Great Barrier Reef. It is a fairly famous place in Australia, so surely it shouldn’t have any trouble with it.
I had to try this a few times and didn’t really get what I wanted. I was hoping to have lots and lots of marine life or fish swimming everywhere. It didn’t seem that PS could do that.
I tried a few other places, but they did not work at all. I think I will do another post on how epically AI in Photoshop can fail. Would you be interested in that?
Sunrise images along the coast of australia
In the end I thought let’s try a sunrise, but wow that was hard too. Take a look.
When you think of a sunrise, or sunset, you think colours and the sky full of them. I don’t think bright sun rising. To me that says the sunrise is over. So while these look okay, I didn’t really get what I was hoping for.
I did also ask for photo images, so I think they aren’t bad for that, but did I get what I asked for, not really. Though if you didn’t know they were AI would you realise?
This is a really interesting post Leanne. Thanks for the info and your thoughts.
I haven’t tried AI at this point.. am more interested in being out with my camera whenever I can.
I guess my time is limited thee days 🙂
The created images are pretty amazing.. I do imagine Central Australia to be much drier and the sunsets/sunrises are pretty spectacular.
Thanks for a thought provoking post.
You’re welcome Robyn, thanks for reading it Robyn.
I have to admit I like going out and taking photos too, but I think it is interesting to see what AI is capable of.
I don’t think it is limited, we all through vinyl records were gone, and now they are making a big come back. I’m sure many painters though photography would make them obsolete, I don’t think AI will take over people taking photos, but I do think it might make making money from photography incredibly hard. I guess time will tell.
I haven’t tried Ai photos… I think it’s fun to click what you see and what you want to remember.
I agree, it is better to do your own images, I like to just keep an eye on how it is going. Thank you Amy.
An interesting exercise. The first set, and to some extent the second, look pretty convincing though I agree with Margaret’s observation that they look a bit too good to be true. The Great Barrier Reef looks a bit like a very good tropical aquarium! And to me the ‘sunrises’ look more like sunsets.
I don’t now about the too good to be true, why not, I could definitely have gotten similar shots to the central Australia ones, I think they are fairly accurate. I hate to think that AI can create better images than what we can take. Thank you Sarah.
Lovely post Thanks
Thank you.
I do have a difficult time accepting AI. I look at it as cheating. If a photographer identifies a picture as AI generated that’s acceptable. However editing programs use AI to correct things like removing and replacing.
I’ve been thinking about your comment for a while Anne, and I wonder how painters who got paid a lot of money for portraits before the 20th of century, then photography happened. So what did those painters think of photography. Then there are the darkroom artists who crafted their craft and were so good, in high demand because not everyone could do that, or had the means to do it, then along came digital photography. Film photography didn’t disappear, but it is nowhere near what it was. Suddenly with digital we had more and more people deciding to do photography. We also use things like Photoshop, who could believe any image if it was real if it was done with photoshop, and now there is AI. Maybe it is just a progression, who knows.
I strongly support your observation that you’d never pass off an AI image as your own. My issue is less with AI as such, than with transparency — with knowing what (or which elements of the total) is created by a specific human being, and what is not. My fear is that increasingly we won’t be told, and can’t reliably guess for ourselves.
Thank you Penny, I appreciate you saying that. I agree I think full transparency is needed and you should always find it here. I think you might be right about the future, sadly.
This is an exceptionally well-written piece on artificial intelligence. I intend to explore its possibilities further by running some experiments of my own.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this, too!
Thank you Braden, that is good to hear. You should give it a go and see what you get.
At first glance, I would not have been able to say they were AI images. Maybe, if I scrutinized and examined each image carefully, I might see something to trigger a reaction.
I picked these because of that reason. They can comeo out easily. Thank you Egidio.
Yes, it is amazing and frightening what one can do with AI and other peoples content.
The problem is, every time we play around, we provide loop back to feed this monster.
I am in favour using AI to create images or video of something which is not real, or to work with my own content. I call this part of a creative process. However, even then I am part of this vicious cycle.
One could argue that having AI to create new pictures and videos is the same, but we must be aware that we work with stolen visual elements and, even unintentional maybe, depriving someone of a means of living (financially and spiritually).
Last but not least, we live in a world of mis and de-information, a world where lying is elevated to an art-form. To deceive and to steal.
Steal our money and freedom. To manipulate our thinking and our destiny. AI is just accelerating this process. Maybe in the end de-humanising existence. Only we could stop or influence this by thinking carefully of what we use. Each of us, little by little against the might of computers and algorithm.
I know what you mean, but part of the reason why I use Photoshop is because they supposedly use the photos from Adobe Stock, and when you agree put your photos on it, then apparently you agree to let them use it for AI. So I don’t think it can be called stealing then. I hope not anyway.
I fear the world we are living in these days, it is hard to work out sometimes what is truth and what isn’t. Little trust. Thank you for your thoughts.
I don’t really have a problem with AI in photography, except when you can’t tell the difference between real and “not-real” images, and these are incredible. Not being from the area, you could tell me these are central Australia and I wouldn’t know the difference. I just can’t quite wrap my head around what the world looks like when you can’t tell the difference between what is real and what isn’t. I know I’m glad my livelihood doesn’t depend on me creating original images of the central outback, looks like AI is good enough haha.
I do think it should be stated when it is AI, I know I will always do taht. The ones of central australia are pretty good. I would believe them to be true. I know what you mean, it is crazy. Thank you Scott.
This is fascinating. I have arrived at a point where I don’t trust any photos or videos from an unknown (to me) creator any more because I have been caught out by AI a few times. I am, therefore, encouraged to learn that AI is still struggling to create accurate photographs – for now.
I’ve been caught out too, but you can be rest assured here Laura I will always tell you when the images are created with it. Thank you.
If you dig deep enough, there’s almost always a flaw somewhere. The real AI pros are getting better and better, though. Soon, we may not be able to tell with some artists.
Yeah, I think I will do a post on how much it can stuff up. But yeah, people will get better at creating it and I think it is also important to think about what they are trying to create. We probably won’t, but people who do real photography will always say that is what they have done. I think.
Agreed, good to keep up with it and find out what it’s doing. I’m definitely in the camp of belief that it needs controls, however. A couple of times I’ve suspected AI and I’ve turned out to be right, but there is going to come a time when we can’t tell, I think.
I don’t know, I think we do have to be careful, and I do think it needs to be managed, like always disclosing it. I guess we will see. Thank you Lynette.
I think they all have that ‘too good to be true’ look that seems to go with AI. You knew I’d say that, didn’t you?😉
Yeah I knew Margaret. lol.
Great article, Leanne. I think everyone should have at least some knowledge of AI. It’s becoming an integral tool for almost anything.
When I try to get AI to create am image, I’ve learned that the more info you provide the better the results. Detailed instructions are key.
Still, AI isn’t anywhere near perfect. I often end up with artifacts that completely warp the image.
Skynet takes over in 20 years, so we’d better be ready for some terminators.😉
I agree with everything you have said Michael. I think you never know what you might get. Some can be real stinkers. We better be, thank you.
This is neat – always curious to see AI being applied in different ways. Which one did you use? In my experience translation from words to images – especially when trying to get it to modify the image tends to break down a lot.
I used Photoshop, I find it the best that I’ve tried. It can, there seems to be a knack of knowing what to ask, I can some pretty bad ones. Thanks.