AI chatbots have made the leap from handling mundane customer support questions at e-retailer websites to being tapped to handle some of your most intimate conversations. Whether they’re used as a crutch when having to deal with the anxiety of meeting new people, to trying to combat extreme loneliness, these AI chatbots are only growing in popularity – no matter how weird it might seem to me personally. But what if someone created an AI photographer? What pearls of wisdom might they have? Would they be able to help you become a better photographer? Wonder no more, we built multiple AI Photographers and then interviewed them and asked for photo critiques.
Additional input for this article was provided by Chris Gampat.
Meet Your AI “Photographers”
While I wouldn’t call this a review per se, there were some criteria I looked for when building these chatbots. For one, I wasn’t going to pay for one, which narrowed the options to ChatGPT, Character.AI, Google Gemini, and Claude by Anthropic.
Lucia (Character.AI)
Character.AI is a chatbot built for role-play and entertainment. That is, it’s designed to operate more like a virtual love interest than anything else. Using the out-of-the-box options, I landed on “Lucia,” a heterosexual female avatar who, with my prompts, was also a street photographer from Los Angeles. I stressed that this avatar be a woman of color to get an idea of what that meant to an AI. It was one of the more cartoonish experiences of all the AI chatbots for sure.
Below are some samples of our conversation:
Character.AI is designed to help users create friends and lovers, and Lucia was the easiest to keep in character in the most technical sense. Lucia was always available to chat and provide a romance novel-like conversation and description. It often felt like playing an RPG, but instead of being able to interact with a human guild or even a gamemaster, it was just me typing to a black screen. While many of my prompts returned upbeat, positive, or even whimsical responses, none of the conversations ever felt like anything of substance. Worse than scrolling through endless comment threads on social media, I knew I was literally talking to myself.
Julian (Google Gemini), “Interview” with a Portrait Photographer
When I first began working with Google’s Gemini, I was initially trying to recreate some of the photographer interviews we have here on The Phoblographer. It was a pretty straightforward attempt at seeing how the AI would interpret the typical questions we’d ask a working photographer and try to gain some insights into their approach to the work. If “Julian” were a human being, he’d likely put you to sleep; between the overuse of cliches and general word-soup responses, “Julian” neither provided anything insightful nor thought-provoking.
Here’s a sample of our conversation:
Prompt: I recently saw in a chat board that a new photographer was concerned that they might be too old to start a career behind the lens. What would you tell that person?
AI: Ah, the tyranny of youth. I hear that anxiety far too often. It’s utter nonsense.
Look, if that aspiring photographer were starting a career in, say, professional gymnastics or perhaps trying to be the next teenage pop sensation, yes, age might be a factor. But we are talking about portraiture—a craft that requires depth, empathy, patience, and a nuanced understanding of the human condition.
One of my biggest gripes working with Julian/Gemini was that our “conversations” would often veer into keeping things almost too professional. Whenever I’d pry or push to get more personal, the chatbot would redirect or suggest seeking external resources (i.e., a counselor or speaking to a close relative or friend). I’m genuinely grateful for this because social media has created a mental health crisis among young people, young men especially. These chatbots have the potential to do even more harm by encouraging you not to leave your invented world.
Adrian (ChatGPT)
Adrian was a much less annoying “Julian,” with far fewer clichés and more willingness to avoid breaking character. Unfortunately, this wasn’t perfect by any stretch. Many of our conversations would go back to “the work,” leaving me with having to redirect the conversation to a friendly chit-chat format. For this instance, I specifically asked ChatGPT to create its own persona – it elected for a heterosexual male when the only background given was that it was “an award-winning portrait photographer.” I guess it’s a man’s world, at least according to ChatGPT.
Here’s a taste of what it’s like being friends with Adrian:
Adrian was just as verbose as Julian tended to be, and while its tone was often warmer/friendlier, it still felt extremely unnatural and forced. After a day or so, I’d have to restart the prompt – never keeping true continuity between our past chats. This also adds to that unnatural feeling, one which each interaction feels forced, and the “positive” reinforcement simply fake.
A Newfound Appreciation for Friends and Flaws
If you made it down this far, dear reader, let me be fully honest and transparent. I don’t necessarily think I know how to be an effective “prompt engineer.” I don’t have the patience to be both the friend and the architect of a pseudo-friendship. I can’t even say that I could articulate in detail what an ideal friendship/relationship looks like – and maybe that’s why I had such a terrible experience with these chatbots.
I genuinely did not want to come to this assignment with any preconceived judgements. I’m aware that there’s a growing community of people who seek out connection with AI chatbots for a myriad of reasons, but for me, it just reminded me of what I look for in human connection. My friends and loved ones are flawed. None of them is everything I want them to be. We clash, we disagree, sometimes we might even argue, but there’s nothing phony in our interactions. And that’s the connection that I desire the most. If you’re approaching your AI journey in search of “company,” then chatbots like those found in Character.AI and similar might be your cup of tea, but honestly, I’d recommend going outside, touching grass, and maybe saying “hello” to someone new.
Most importantly, I don’t think we should take advice from someone or something that doesn’t have the portfolio to back it up.
