“Ridiculous”, “oversimplistic”, and “immensely frustrating”: photographers worldwide are weighing in on the broad social media label "AI Info". While some industry leaders see the value of the designation, the blanket “AI Info” label is also criticized as being oversimplistic. This rollout is causing some photographers to feel punished for using basic tools in Photoshop to avoid the label.
I talked with some of the biggest names in commercial photography and retouching to get a pulse from industry experts. My dive into this topic began while I was discussing my frustration with a colleague. I posted a recent image that I took for a skincare client of mine.
When I uploaded the image to Instagram, it was given the “AI Info” label. For my own social media account, I don’t mind the attribution. It shows that I can use the latest tools.
However, my concern came when I thought about my client posting the image. Such a classification reads to many as being a “fake” image. For my client, this could create distrust between her and her consumer.
Even though the skin was showing the product, and AI was simply used to clean up flyaway hairs, it received the same label as if I had typed in a prompt to generate an image of a model with serum applied to her cheek — no camera involved. This image was generated using nothing more than the above prompt. I fixed one nail and although it is not perfect, it is a great example of how these 2 images are receiving the sam.