There are few things that seem obvious at least to us in the journalism world. And one of those is to not try to appeal to photographers by using AI Generated images. Why? Because you’re using a method that replaces photographers to try to get photographers to spend money with your brand. At least, that’s what it seems like MPB did in collaboration with FStoppers. And so it begs the question: should you use Generative AI Imagery to appeal to photographers?
Did FStoppers and MPB Really Use an AI-Generated Image?
A post by Fainimade on Threads spurred this investigation. The post accused MPB and FStoppers of using an AI-Generated image to advertise to photographers in an article entitled 5 Cameras You Wish You Got for Christmas by Greg Sheard.
To figure out if this image was in fact made by AI, we downloaded it and ran a reverse image search by both TinEye and Google Image Search. Neither could find it anywhere on the web. If it weren’t an AI Generated Image, both sources would likely find it somewhere else.
Then we ran it by three other sources — all of the said that the image was most likely made by AI.
The Phoblographer is the only American Photography Publication that’s also a member of Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative. So, we ran it by the database. The system couldn’t verify where the image was from.
When advertising articles like this are made, sometimes a brand provides the images and the text along with the title. At other times, the publication makes everything and gets approval from the brand. So while we can’t say whether FStoppers authorized the AI Generated Image or MPB did, we can tell you that at least one of them did a seemingly grave injustice to photographers. We’d know how this works because the Phoblographer has loads of sponsored articles that we clearly label. And I personally have worked on them for more than a decade collaborating with brands like Fujifilm, Adorama, Sony, Leica, Panasonic Lumix, etc.
Did MPB greenlight the use of an AI Generated Image? Or was it FStoppers? As of January 6th, the image is still up.
Why This is Unethical to Photographers
Using AI-Generated images is a way to replace photographers because you’re often not in a place to spend the budget to afford one. But if you’re a company appealing to photographers, why would you not try to work out a deal where you give back to the customers you’re trying to support?
To clarify this statement even more, let me put this into different terms:
- This is like Guitar Center using AI-Generated music to appeal to musicians. It’s unethical to use material that wasn’t human-made to target the humans who should be buying your instruments.
- This is like Aerie using AI-Generated models to sell their underwear to women when they make claims of working with real women of all shapes and sizes. It’s unethical to use models who were generated using AI to wear the products you’re supposed to be marketing to real women.
We could go on and on with this. Is it morally wrong? I’d say so. But more importantly, it’s very unethical. Typically with advertising deals like one made between MPB and FStoppers, the brand could get a shoot of some sort done too if FStoppers wasn’t pulling from their archives of images.
You’d be shocked to know, or at least to be reminded, that this isn’t the first time that photography brands have done something like this. Three of the biggest brands to slap photographers in the face are Peak Design, Moment, and Squarespace. Several years ago, they assisted Unsplash with their terrible rights-grab contests. Unlike Polaroid, they never answered for what they’ve done. This is also one of the reasons why you haven’t seen coverage of these brands on the Phoblographer in years. We take ethics incredibly seriously.
Assistive AI, Not Generative AI
Make no mistake, the Phoblographer, nor I, are against AI. We’re against AI replacing humans instead of assisting them. Being legally blind, I’ve often considered getting augmented reality and AI glasses to help me navigate and understand the world around me. Combined with my really extreme prescription, I think that they would be a great medical aid to someone like me. The Assistive AI would do something that a person wouldn’t necessarily be able to do at all times. And truly, it’s much more ethical to rely on technology than to have to rely on a person to constantly wait on my at all hours of the day and night.
But we’re not sure what this is so much as being a disgraceful way to appeal to photographers.
