Popular Instagram Photographer Revealed as AI Fraud
Reading The Online Photographer lead me to this article.
A popular “photographer” who has amassed almost 30,000 followers on Instagram has admitted that his portraits are actually generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
Jos Avery has been posting his impressive “photos” since October last year and deceiving his audience into thinking they are genuine portraits — even describing the camera equipment he uses (a Nikon D810 with 24-70mm lens).
Avery tells Ars Technica that he set out to “fool people,” saying: “Do people who wear makeup in photos disclose that? What about cosmetic surgery? Every commercial fashion photograph has a heavy dose of Photoshopping, including celebrity body replacement on the covers of magazines.”
Avery’s Instagram followers are besotted with his work showering him with compliments that he laps up.
Popular Instagram Photographer Revealed as AI Fraud
Honestly, I find myself underwhelmed by the supposed art involved. That, perhaps, has more to do with stylistic choices I tend to make in my landscape photography that remain much the same in digital and film formats, sans AI.
Somehow I doubt the photographers I find interesting on Instagram (Peter Turnley, David Burnett, etc) will have similar issues!