chronicling his victory, along with his subsequent refusal of the award, and what has become a testy relationship between the artist and the contest organizers.Eldagsen wrote on March 14, the day the winners were publicly announced, that he has been a photographer since 1989, whose “artistic focus has shifted to exploring the creative possibilities of AI generators.”
Among his concerns were that it wasn’t communicated in the press release that his work had been co-created using AI. “We are interested in photography as an art form, and within the Sony World Photography Awards we have our Creative categories in the Professional and Open Competitions which welcome photographers to experiment and explore the dynamism of the medium.
There would be several back and forth between Eldagsen and the SWPA regarding setting up a panel discussion about his use of AI image generators, but nothing materialized – likely eventually leading to his refusal to accept the award.