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This striking photo is titled “Flamingone.” (Photo credit: X)
The photo was submitted to the prestigious 1839 Awards by photographer Miles Astley.
Artificial intelligence has taken the world by storm. Social media is flooded with AI generated images that leave everyone astonished with their accuracy. To celebrate this special technology, an AI competition was held and an image of a flamingo was selected as the winner, but then the story took an interesting turn. The panel of judges later discovered that the photo was actually clicked and not AI generated, resulting in the image being disqualified from the competition. The photo was submitted by photographer Miles Astley to the prestigious 1839 Awards, which attracted submissions from all over the world.
According to The Guardian, Miles Ashtray submitted a photo of a real flamingo to the 1839 Awards competition, rather than an AI-generated image. The striking photo, called “Flamingo,” convinced the panel of judges to award Ashtray third place in the “AI-generated” category of the competition, before it was disqualified.
The report suggests that Astley submitted real photos because he wanted to break the rules. He was concerned that AI-generated images would take away from the work and effort of real photographers. “I thought that by submitting real photos to an AI contest, I could flip and turn this narrative on its head in a way that only a human could,” Astley said.
Nature is still better than machines, and you helped prove it: my photo “FLAMINGONE” won both the Public Vote and Jury Prize in the Artificial Intelligence category at the 1839 Awards. But in a twist, the photo of the flamingo, apparently missing its head, wasn't generated by AI. pic.twitter.com/kgf1x2rrWj— Miles Astray (@MilesAstray) June 13, 2024
Astley added that his photo, “Flamingone,” won the contest because it was a surreal, unimaginable shot. It was completely natural and difficult to capture. He is ecstatic that his photo is the first real photo to win an AI award.
Miles Ashtray wanted the world to understand how AI imagery can be deceptive.
“My hope was that industry professionals and audiences would feel that this criticism of AI and its ethical implications outweighed the ethical implications of deceiving audiences. The irony, of course, is that this is exactly what the AI does,” he said.
