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Five professional photographers have been tasked to judge photo entries from both photographers and artificial intelligence (AI) image creators in DigiDirect’s $1,000 Human V Machine contest that started on 20th February 2023.
Sony Ambassador Mark Galer, Fujifilm Ambassador Russell Ord, Canon Ambassador James Simmons, Panasonic Ambassador Chris Bray and Nikon Ambassador Jasin Boland have accepted the challenge, aware that they will have no knowledge whether the finalists have submitted a camera-shot photograph or an AI generated image.
The winning image will be awarded a $1,000 gift card to shop at consumer electronics retailer, DigiDirect.
This new contest is a response to the controversy that DigiDirect attracted after an AI-generated image managed to bag the top prize in their recently-concluded Summer Photo Contest. The winning image was submitted by AI studio Absolutely Ai, under the name Jane Eykes, in reference to Jan van Eycke, the 15th century painter.
Upon winning, the studio immediately refused the cash prize, having already made their point.
“We did it to prove that we’re at a turning point with artificially intelligent technology by passing the ultimate test – could an AI-generated image not only slip by unnoticed but actually be awarded the top prize by a photography expert? The answer is resoundingly, yes,” the studio said in an article by news.com.au.
Meanwhile, DigiDirect apologised, announced a new winner, and said they will require future winners to “submit the raw image of their edited photographs, which will reveal key metadata about the camera used to shoot their entries.”
The camera equipment retailer also announced their new contest, which seeks to establish whether AI can beat traditionally-taken photos in a “level playing field.”
“As one of Australia’s leading independently owned consumer electronics retailers servicing the modern camera buyer, which includes photographers and videographers, as well as all sorts of content creators including gamers, streamers, vloggers, podcasters and others, we feel uniquely positioned to invite both photographers and artificial intelligence creators to settle the debate that was created by this controversy,” DigiDirect General Manager, Haig Kayserian said.
“We are delighted to be partnering with some superstar photographers, who are brand ambassadors at Sony, Fujifilm, Canon, Panasonic and Nikon, who will judge the ultimate winner of the DigiDirect Human V Machine Image Contest,” he said.
This contest does not have any prescribed theme, and will close on 26th February 2023 at 11:59PM AEDT. The judging panel will deliberate over the subsequent week and a winner will be announced during the week beginning 6th March 2023.
Paulo Rizal is a content producer for Comms Room. He writes content around popular media, journalism, social media, and more.
