“I wanted to show that nature can still beat the machine and that there is still merit in real work from real creatives,” Astray tells“After seeing recent instances of AI-generated imagery beating actual photos in competitions, I started thinking about turning the story and its implications around by submitting a real photo into an AI competition.”The New York Times
The 1839 color photography contest has numerous categories with AI being unusual as it is the only one that is not camera-based. The rest are more familiar photography subgenres such as “Architecture”, “Still Life”, and “Film/Analog.”, the competition’s organizers said that while it appreciates Astray’s “powerful message”, his entry has been disqualified in consideration for the other artists.