Photography Life has been, is, and always will be AI-free. This is the conclusion our core group of writers came up with in one of our internal calls, where we debated the use of generative AI for both creating images and writing content.
Without a doubt, the growth of AI (Artificial Intelligence) technologies has been tremendous in the past few years. Heck, it seems like something new comes out about every week – from walking and talking robots to incredible new ways of editing photos and videos. The lure of using all these technologies to enhance our day-to-day life is becoming ever so appealing. And to give it some credit, there are certainly beneficial ways to use AI, like discovering new medicines and solving complex problems in science.
I personally love entertaining my co-workers with the Call Annie app. One of them even asked if my wife was jealous… I did not see that coming! But I guess we are not far from that either. Heard of AI girlfriends? Now, that’s super creative! I remember back in the day a local sex toy store in Denver used to advertise, “It’s cheaper than dating!” on large billboards. We just took a new approach to enhancing our personal lives, and this one is going to easily win on all fronts, because AI knows how to fill those emotional gaps.
It’s not like those guys who invented AI aren’t warning the world to take a breather and think it through before this technology fully takes over. With the next-gen AI getting unpredictably high levels of intelligence, which according to top AI scientist predictions is going to happen very fast, one might wonder if humanity will ever learn from its past mistakes. My prediction is – most certainly not. I remember first reading “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius, and repeating the words “nothing has really changed” (@Bob Vishneski, you were right). Humanity has always been led by people fueled by greed and self-interest. Oil, gas, profitable trade routes and regional influence drive corporate greed and manipulate our geo-politics. Look at the world affairs today – that’s a reflection of our society at large. No wonder things are boiling over.
And while our attention is strategically aimed elsewhere, tech giants are pushing things our way, and this time they are armed with above-human tools to manipulate our conscience. Ladies and gentlemen, we are in for a very fun ride!
I know this all sounds extremely pessimistic. Perhaps I am just overwhelmed by everything that’s going on in the world at this point of my life…
So when I sat down with our group of writers at Photography Life and started chatting about AI and how we are going to face it as a photography resource, I was surprised to see a unanimous “no” to the use of AI in any shape or form for what we do here. We concluded that the world does not need more fakery. If this is going to be the very last resource that is free from AI-generated articles and AI-generated photos, and even if that translates to negative financial performance, “so be it” was our team’s conclusion. I supported this vote wholeheartedly.
I started Photography Life back in 2008 and I never had the intention to make it a profitable resource. I always followed my dad’s mantra of “do something with love and passion, and the money will come with it”, and PL is certainly the child that was born through this philosophy. I am happy to be part of this journey, which is in the hands of a very smart, energized and talented group of people that I am proud to work with.
Welcome to the new-old Photography Life. I am sure some of you will appreciate our updated slogan – “Photography Life: AI-Free Since 2008.” Feel free to talk about this among your group of photography enthusiasts at your local club, or while shooting in the wild. And please spare us from the likes of social media. I haven’t been on Facebook, Instagram and all that for a few years now, and when I found out that these companies use public posts to train AI, I sat back and laughed…
As always, thank you for being a reader and for supporting Photography Life for so many years.
P.S. As I was publishing the article, I got the following suggestions from an “AI Assistant” in the post editor:
Oh really? No, thanks!