Recently, during a drive to doggie day care, my car radio, tuned to NPR, revealed a most interesting bit of news.

It seems that an artist won a photography contest with an AI-generated image. Boris Eldagsen won the World Photography Organization’s Sony World Photography Awards for a piece titled “The Electrician.” This is pretty amazing stuff!

Perhaps the most amazing part, to me, photo person that I have been for well over 50 years, is that the image was made by submitting language to an AI generator many times which allowed the work to be altered using techniques known as “inpainting, outpainting, and prompt whispering.” In other words (pun intended), the photograph was created by talking, in some way, to a computer while adjusting a digital file with photo skills acquired through experiences learned on traditional equipment.

Now, let me say from the outset, that I have had words with my computers over the years. Many of my comments are not meant to be shared with small children or people with weak stomachs. I have also been known to curse my cameras from time to time, especially those larger than a basketball that have been lugged to a hilltop for better views. I still carry these cameras, no longer, however, to the top of anything but a substantial tripod, generally not far from my vehicle.

AI is here to stay, ladies and gentlemen. It is very likely that we will begin to see, hear and feel the effects of this technology for the remainder of our lives on the planet, like it or not. Photoshop alterations of photographic images will seem like child’s play and ancient history.

I once shared with my wonderful family that we will soon see the day when it is possible to make a photograph without being the photographer. That, one day, it will be possible to set a camera-like device atop the hood of the car and perhaps with the push of a button, the device will scan a scene for the best composition. That capability probably already exists. I’m wondering who will be the first to market such a device, i.e., Canon, Nikon, Sony or some heretofore unheard of start-up headed by a 13-year-old child from Azerbaijan? Mark my words y’all, it’s on our doorstep, perhaps about to ring the talking doorbell.

So, as a half-hearted attempt to recognize this new fangled revolution in image creation, I am hereby submitting my pre AI created subject above. You be the judge. What photo contest will I be the winner of? And who will be the jury? A massive super computer in India, I suspect.

P.S., the winner of the World Photography Awards, Herr Eldagsen, refused to accept his image award. He urged the jury to give his prize money to a photography festival in Odesa, Ukraine. The image he created, by the way, is quite lovely, having the appearance of an old black and white photograph of two women.

Please note! My image shared today is neither Artificial nor Intelligent!