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My response to “photography isn’t real”¹ takes² in the context of generative AI:
I am not convinced.
A photograph is a direct effect of photons hitting film and altering its physics. A photograph is a photograph even if it’s never been seen or even developed. It exists on the surface of film as a latent image, and only after some processing can it become an image. We may choose to alter it in various ways, but the material we work with exists because of the photons that landed on film.
An “AI-generated” image (ex., something made with DALL·E) is a direct effect of millions of images/creative works/photographs which were copied without consent to train machine learning models. It exists on servers in large warehouses somewhere, and only after a short *prompt* can it become an image. We may choose to alter it in various ways, but the material we work with exists because of the images copied without consent to train machine learning models.
¹ — petapixel.com/2024/03/21/a…