I’m curious if people think using AI images in the photo industry is fair. Specifically, we found a company that caters to photographers by offering support services: but they use images that curiously look like AI. Further, they’ve also been using Unsplash – a company well known for tricking photographers into giving their high-quality images up for free. The lack of any declaration of the same seems like they hoped no one might notice. The hawkeyed among us do, and last week what we found out one photo lab was doing really surprised us.
Is Using AI Images Fair In Photography?
Is there a middle ground yet regarding AI imagery being used as an alternative to realistic photography? You’re either for it or feel that AI will be able to replace photographers in a year or so. Or you’re against it (like I am) and think it might only aid in a few visually creative industries. Because the devil is in the details, and in the case of AI imagery, quite literally. At least at the moment. Skin texture is too smooth when you look at AI portraits up close. Let’s not even start on the fact that AI still can’t seem to compute the number of fingers on a hand.
Would you consider it ethical practice if, hypothetically, your favorite camera brand began using AI imagery in their online and print promos tomorrow?
Let’s really hammer this in, though. Consider the following situations:
- Samsung using AI imagery to demonstrate what a camera’s image quality looks like when using their phones.
- Apple using AI imagery to do the same.
- Canon using AI imagery to show an epic landscape instead of a photo actually shot with their cameras.
- Sony using AI imagery to show a sample portrait instead of using a photo shot with their cameras.
- Leica using AI imagery to present a street photography scene
- Fujifilm using AI imagery to present something designed to look like film.
It’s Wrong On Multiple Fronts
Wouldn’t it be something quite contrary to the entire essence of their core business? Imagine seeing a print advert for a new lens that instantly appealed to you. Only then to find out that the images shown in there were renders. For one, I’d wonder where their creative resources were being deployed. Such an action would even make me question my loyalty to the brand. When the facility and means exist to take actual images and source authentic ones, are costs and time considerations driving companies to use AI and free imagery? While doing so knowingly, aren’t they plunging stakes into the hearts of hard-working photographers everywhere?
Unsplash Is Just Evil
They can try and spin it any way they like, but when Unsplash makes money off your free images while saying you can gain potential exposure, that’s just wrong. If you want to give away your time and skills for free, there are better ways to do that — like volunteering to take images for NGOs and not-for-profit organizations. Uploading images for free to Unsplash in the hopes that some big company will someday hire you is like scouring the streets for a lottery ticket, thinking you’ll become a millionaire. The chances of this happening are beyond unlikely, and you’re honestly just wasting your time. There has been at least one instance of a company getting into legal trouble for using an image from Unsplash.
The sad state of affairs is that still many major corporations don’t realize how toxic they are and end up sponsoring their contests. Why upload your images to this website when they profit off it and your images get downloaded many times over, often being used without any credits. If you’re really in a crunch, there are more ethical ways to get photos for free.
A Photo Print Lab That Claims To Value Photographers
I firmly believe that if you’re not 100% dedicated to the industry you work in, you can’t really be a champion for its cause. It’s like if the employees at a vegan leather company were caught wearing real leather shoes and belts. You’d immediately question their ethics and rationale behind their vision. So when the “#1 highest quality photo lab in America by PCMag and Wirecutter,” is found to be using what seems like AI-generated images in its blog posts, it does beg the question of what exactly its core values are. And while they state that they “value the contributions of photographers to our business,” they do things contrary to this, such as using images sourced from Unsplash across multiple blog posts. It does really make one wonder how sincere they are in this endeavor.
Could the image in the above screenshot have been a real photo? Well, according to them, it was shot by Olive Gray Photography. But I still don’t see any credits on the page mentioning who the photographer was — in fact, it’s just a screenshot. I was able to find more instances of them using images on blog posts without any credit to the photographer. I haven’t a clue if those photographers have signed off on the usage of those images. If not, that could be bordering on what we’d term image theft.
AI Images And Unsplash Image Usage Isn’t Right
It really would leave a sour taste in the mouth to see these kinds of practices from a successful company. NPL has been in the photo print business for close to two decades now. If you argue that maybe it’s a blog that isn’t widely read, that still doesn’t stand right. We’ve penned many a piece on why Unsplash is a putrid stain on the photography world. And correct usage of AI in the photography industry should be to aid photographers with their work, not replace them. There is absolutely no excuse for not compensating working photographers and using Unsplash as a way out. At least, that’s my opinion and how all of us at The Phoblographer feel. I reached out to a few other photographers to see what their thoughts were on this matter.
What Do Other Photographers Feel About AI Imagery Being Used?
Photographer and globetrotter Nigel Pinto agreed that it does affect the authenticity of the photo lab in question here. But he does question to what extent it bothers them, if at all. “Trust can be achieved through all that’s both seen and unseen,” he says. “It’s a trend, so everyone uses it. But whether the lab is transparent about it or not remains to be seen.” He continued to state that they should be open and honest and to their your audience know that they are simply trying new things, testing new trends, or simply pointing out crazy future combinations. Nigel also mentioned that it was selfish of them to go down this route.
Pradeep Mohan feels it’s more about being relevant to the current trend. “They feel using AI images will save them money; at the end of the day, that’s why they’re doing it,” he notes about companies using AI Imagery. “Also, because they want to ride the AI wave while it lasts.”
Renith Sunil was short and blunt in his response to this. “Using AI for any sort of art itself is not fair,” he replied when I asked him if it was fair for companies to create blog posts about photography in this manner.
Do The Right Thing
Professional photographers spend years honing their craft and investing in expensive equipment and skills. Building a reputation for themselves takes years if not decades of work sometimes. By using AI-generated images and free stock from companies like Unsplash, NPL is essentially saying that professional photography is not worth paying for. This not only hurts the livelihoods of professional photographers but also devalues the industry as a whole. Especially when they’re making their money off photographers like us, this behavior from them is a slap in our faces.
