上周，国际颇有影响力的摄影奖项之一“2023年索尼世界摄影奖 (SWPA) ”揭晓，德国摄影师鲍里斯·埃尔达森 (Boris Eldagsen) 的一幅作品贏得了创意类别优胜奖。
然而，获奖摄影师却公开表示，这幅作品其实是由人工智能（AI）生成的，并拒绝接受该奖项。此事受到外媒关注和网友热议。
《卫报》截图：“摄影师承认获奖照片其实是AI生成的”
综合BBC、《卫报》等外媒报道，这幅黑白作品名为《虚妄记忆：电工》（PSEUDOMNESIA: The Electrician），画面中有两名不同年纪的女性，年长的女人似乎从后面抓住了年轻女人的肩膀；年轻女人的胸前还有一只似乎是男性的手，看起来有些诡异。
The winner of a major photography award has refused his prize after revealing his work was created using AI. German photographer Boris Eldagsen's entry, entitled Pseudomnesia: The Electrician, won the creative open category at last week's Sony World Photography Award. The eerie black and white image shows two women from different generations—the older woman appearing to hang on to the younger woman from behind. Additionally, there is a seemingly male hand on the younger woman's chest.
获奖摄影师：这是一个历史性时刻
凭借该作品获奖后，埃尔达格森在其个人网站和社交媒体上发布了一份声明，称这是一个历史性的时刻（a historic moment），想借此引发人们对AI生成图像（AI generated images）的讨论。
“感谢你们选出我的作品，创造了这个历史性的时刻，因为这是有史以来第一张由人工智能生成的照片在国际知名摄影比赛中获奖。你们中有多少人知道或曾怀疑它是AI生成的？它看起来有点不对劲，对吧？” 埃尔达格森在声明中写道。
他表示，“AI生成的图像和摄影不该在这样的比赛里竞争，它们应该属于不同的类别。AI并非摄影。因此，我不会接受这个奖项。”他还说，自己“厚着脸皮（as a cheeky monkey）”提交了这幅作品，想试探摄影大赛是否“已经做好了会有AI生成的影像报名参赛的准备”，结果发现他们并没有。
He continued: "AI images and photography should not compete with each other in an award like this. They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore, I will not accept the award." He said he applied "as a cheeky monkey" to find out if competitions "are prepared for AI images to enter. They are not."
“摄影界需要一次公开的讨论，探索究竟哪些能够被视为摄影作品，哪些不能？摄影的范畴可以宽广到包含AI图像吗？这会不会是一个错误？” 埃尔达格森在声明中说。“我拒绝接受奖项，希望由此加快这场辩论的发生。”
“We, the photo world, need an open discussion,” said Eldagsen. “A discussion about what we want to consider photography and what not. Is the umbrella of photography large enough to invite AI images to enter – or would this be a mistake? With my refusal of the award, I hope to speed up this debate.”
另据CNN报道，埃尔达格森在18日接受采访时表示， “这件事表明，目前摄影界对AI创作的发展措手不及，你可以巧妙地用AI创造出看起来很像摄影作品的图像，而不需要拥有摄影师的技能和专长。”
Eldagsen told CNN Tuesday: "It shows that at the moment the photographic world has been taken by surprise after this development that subtly you can create images that look like photography but you don't need to have the skills and expertise of photographers."
然而，主办方却说……
不过，对于埃尔达格森“大赛没有准备好应对AI图像”的指责，主办方世界摄影组织（WPO）倒是持不同的说法。
综合BBC及CNN报道，世界摄影组织表示，在宣布埃尔达格森获奖之前，埃尔达格森已经在通信中证实了这幅作品是他用人工智能“共同创作（co-creation）”的。
A spokesperson for the World Photography Organization, the photography strand of art events organizers Creo, said that during their discussions with the artist, before he was announced as the winner, he had confirmed the piece was a "co-creation" of his image using AI.
该组织称，比赛的创意类别奖项允许各种实验性的图像制作方法，包括氰基照相、射线照相以及前沿的数字技术实践。在与埃尔达格森通信并得到他本人的保证之后，主办方认为他的参赛作品符合该类别的标准，因而支持他参赛。
由于埃尔达格森拒绝领奖，现已将他的作品从获奖名单和比赛网站上删除。
The World Photography Organization, which runs the competition, told CNN in a statement Tuesday that, during the competition's exchanges with Eldagsen ahead of announcing him as a category winner on March 14, he had confirmed the "co-creation" of this image using AI. "The creative category of the open competition welcomes various experimental approaches to image making from cyanotypes and rayographs to cutting-edge digital practices," organizers said. "As such, following our correspondence with Boris [Eldagsen] and the warranties he provided, we felt that his entry fulfilled the criteria for this category, and we were supportive of his participation.” They continued: "As he has now decided to decline his award, we have suspended our activities with him and in keeping with his wishes have removed him from the competition."
AI生成图像技术日新月异
有人反对，有人说……
AI生成图像在比赛中获奖已经不是第一次。据《纽约时报》报道，去年9月，在美国科罗拉多州博览会的年度艺术大赛中，就有人用AI文字生成图像工具生成的作品获得了第一名。当时立即引发艺术家们的强烈反对。
此外，今年2月，在澳大利亚电子产品零售商DigiDirect举办的摄影比赛中，也有人用AI作品夺得头奖。
《旧金山标准报》2月8日报道截图：“这幅冲浪场景赢得了摄影比赛——但它完全是假的”
前不久，天主教教皇方济各（Pope Francis）身穿时尚羽绒服以及“特朗普被捕”的假照片在海外社交媒体疯传，又一次引起了人们对AI生成图像高速发展的担忧。
据哥伦比亚广播公司 3月28日报道，AI生成图像“穿羽绒服的教皇”首次发布在国外问答网站Reddit上，之后被网友疯传，收获了数百万浏览量。
哥伦比亚广播公司报道截图
虽然细看图片中有一些破绽，比如教皇拿着水瓶的左手看起来扭曲了，皮肤表面看起来过于锐利等等，但很多网友当时都被骗了，以为是真的。
The "pope in the puffer jacket" was just the latest in a series of "deepfake" images created with AI software. While there are some inconsistencies in the final rendered images — for example, the pope's left hand where it is holding a water bottle looks distorted and his skin has an overly sharp appearance — many people online were fooled into thinking they were real pictures.
此外，美国前总统特朗普被捕的假照片也“糊弄”过一波人。
当地时间2023年3月23日，美国弗吉尼亚州，用户艾略特·希金斯(Eliot Higgins)使用人工智能创建的图像显示特朗普遭到逮捕，类似的合成图片在社交平台上流传。图源：视觉中国
尽管当时创作者明确表示，这些图片是他为了练习AI生成图像工具而制作的，但加上特朗普即将被捕的谣言，这些图片迅速传播开来。报道指出，“这制造了一种完全欺骗性的、且具有潜在危险性的叙事（an entirely fraudulent but potentially dangerous narrative）。”
Another recent example was pictures of former US president Donald Trump that appeared to show him in police custody. Although the creator made it clear that they were produced as an exercise in the use of AI, the images, combined with rumors of Trump's imminent arrest, went viral and created an entirely fraudulent but potentially dangerous narrative.
BBC高级科技记者克里斯·瓦兰斯（Chris Vallance）撰文表示， AI生成图像技术的能力越来越强大，“摄影师和艺术家们以前可以通过指出AI生成图像中的缺陷来安慰自己——比如AI总是画不好手——现在却发现这一点变得越来越难以被发现。”
《华盛顿邮报》3月26日报道：“人工智能现在会画手了。这对深度伪造（人体图像合成技术）来说是个坏消息。”
《华盛顿邮报》报道中左图是人工智能工具生成的图像，血管纹理渲染得不完整；右图的手则更加逼真。
瓦兰斯称，如今，许多艺术家和摄影师指责AI生成图像不公平地“剽窃”数十万人类创作者的作品。但也有人认为，AI只不过是另一种工具，也许是一种新的艺术类别。他们指出，摄影本身曾经就是一项新的、对某些人来说是具有威胁性的发明。
不过，他认为，目前许多围绕AI生成图像最基本的问题仍未解决，比如版权问题。
“Many artists and photographers accuse AI systems of unfairly exploiting the works of hundreds of thousands of human creators on which the systems are trained - some have even launched legal action. But others simply regard AI as just another tool, a new category of art perhaps, but no less valuable. Photography itself was once a new and, to some, threatening invention they point out.” But a host of very basic issues remain unclear, including who owns the copyright for an AI image.
而这次凭借AI作品赢得摄影大奖的埃尔达森则认为，AI生成图像不会威胁人类的创造力，但会威胁“新闻摄影（photojournalism）”。他在《卫报》采访中表示，应该创造一种机制，标明新闻图像哪些为“真实的、经过处理的或生成的（authentic, manipulated or generated）”。
他还建议，为了区分摄影（photography）和AI生成图像，应该给后者起个名字—— “promptography（提示词摄影）”，因为AI生成图像是人们通过在AI工具中输入提示词（prompt）来实现的。
你怎么看AI生成图像的发展？留言说说吧！