Photography vs AI: Groundbreaking Exhibit Pits Cameras Against Machine

Do you remember when Boris Eldagsen won a Sony World Photography Award with an AI image? And do you remember when photographer Miles Astray won an AI image award with a real photo? Well now the two of them have teamed up for an exhibition pitting photography against AI.

The unique exhibition is being held for the European Month of Photography in Berlin, Germany, and might be the first time an exhibit has pitted the two mediums against each other. It has been organized by Eldagsen who says his reverse story with Astray makes clear that “photography and promptography can no longer be distinguished with the naked eye.”

Eldagsen invited 18 photographers and 18 AI artists to represent the two fields which, controversially, occasionally overlap one another.

“The exhibition is an important milestone, demonstrating that despite an overlap of photography and promptography, each medium has its own applications and merit,” Astray tells PetaPixel.

“I am fascinated by the diversity of practices and artistic visions that are represented, not just across the two disciplines but also within each category. There is a coherent plot guiding visitors through various themes inherent and unique to each medium, and there is a harmony to the juxtaposition the artworks are placed in, both spatially and thematically. Going forward, photography and promptography might not always coexist in harmony — we might see some cannibalism — but both mediums will survive through adaptation and due to their complementary nature.”

Astray says that while personally he is a “big fan of reality,” he’s also interested in the other side. “For instance, I was drawn to the work of an artist with multiple sclerosis who can express the feeling of her condition with the help of AI in ways photography doesn’t allow for,” he adds.

Half of the exhibition space is dedicated to photography while the other half shows the vanguard of AI artistry. Photographic themes include presence, perception, and striving for objectivity, while the AI images evolve around themes like overcoming the laws of nature, becoming conscious of oneself, and conceptual art.

The two disciplines converge in the middle of the space, where The Electrician and F L A M I N G O N E hang side by side to stake out the transitional borderland between both worlds.

The Two Protagonists

In April 2023, the Sony World Photography Awards handed out a prize to Eldagsen for his picture The Electrician which he later revealed was AI-generated and handed back the award. It was a major milestone as it marked the first time a major photo award had crowned an AI image.

Conversely, Astray was disqualified from a picture competition after his real photograph won in the AI image category. He entered his surreal photo of a flamingo into the AI category of the 1839 Color Photography Awards which the judges not only placed third but it won the People’s Vote Award.

“I wanted to show that nature can still beat the machine and that there is still merit in real work from real creatives,” Astray told PetaPixel at the time.

Rivals: Photography vs. Promptography runs at Photo Edition Berlin until March 31. More info can be found here.