The incredible growth of artificial intelligence gave us astonishing tools we now use for work, studying, and much more. One of them is image generators capable of delivering real-life photographs. We have all seen them all over social media platforms in the past year.

AI-generated photos use deep learning to create realistic images that are sometimes hard to identify as something generated by a computer. These photos found their way into several major industries, namely advertising and journalism.

Photographers and illustrators are heavily affected by the development of AI because individuals can type simple props into an image generator and get a photo they imagined in their minds. So, Nikon Peru has launched a new advertising campaign called ‘Natural Intelligence’ to motivate people to get out there and take photos of the world because beauty is all around us.

The success of ‘Natural Intelligence’

Nikon Peru created clever advertisements using stunning photos of landscapes and nature that look unreal or AI-generated. But the twist is those are all real photographs taken by real people. Cleverly, each photo features an AI prompt that could generate similar visuals.

Besides protecting the original work by some of the best South American photographers, the goal of this ad campaign was to make people interested in photography again, and it clearly worked. The media and public loved the ad, which resulted in a surge of new photographers sharing their original content in Peru and neighboring countries.

Are AI-generated images really that bad? The pros and cons

As always, there are good and bad sides to every technological advancement, AI included. So, let’s unpack all the pros and cons of AI-generated images and learn more about what to look out for and how to use these tools to our advantage.

The pros

AI tools can make your tasks easier. Here’s how:

Quick mockups

Graphic designers will find AI image generators very useful when they need to present the first version of a future project. AI tools can generate visuals in no time, which you can use as a prototype design. From there, designers can improve the look and change whatever they find necessary.

Accessible to everyone

You don’t need any special training or expensive courses to use an AI image generator. Since you only have to type in the prompts, knowing what you want to get from the generator is enough. AI image generators often have an intuitive interface, so you’ll manage to get around easily.

The cons

Considering there is a whole campaign launched by Nikon Peru aimed at people who favor AI-generated images over real photos, you can imagine there will be more cons on this list. So, let’s begin!

Misinformation

As previously mentioned, AI is a powerful tool capable of creating any type of content imaginable. Unfortunately, some people could use this to create false narratives and spread misinformation. You can spot an AI-generated image quickly most of the time. However, some are super realistic, which can lead to various problems.

For instance, creating a false narrative and supporting it with AI-generated images can impact the general population and even change their opinions on certain topics. You only need to go several years into the past to see how quickly misinformation can spread. Social media was filled with fake information regarding COVID-19, vaccination, and more. Keep in mind that generative AI technology wasn’t as widely available then as it is now.

Privacy and online safety

Identity theft has been a huge problem in the era of social media because people share too much personal information online without thinking twice about their online safety. Now that generative AI is available to everyone, we can expect a spike in identity theft cases. The tools are capable of creating a completely fake identity that looks genuine.

When it comes to privacy and online safety, it is important to mention that most AI tools, including image generators, collect personal data, such as the IP addresses of individual users. Luckily, there is a way to prevent this data collection, and that is a VPN. Mac users should download a VPN for Mac, and those who prefer PCs may use the Windows version.

A VPN for Mac or Windows should be enough to keep your IP address hidden and increase your online security. Additionally, this tool has extra features, like encryption, which protects the data you send or receive. It is a must-have if you tend to use public Wi-Fi networks.

Copyright problems

As you might have already seen online, some AI-generated images resemble real people, such as actors, singers, media personalities, etc. Chances are none of them have agreed to be a part of AI-created photos and artwork. When you decide to use someone’s image without their consent, you risk copyright infringement.

You can’t copyright AI-generated art and photos at the moment, which is fair to the original creators. After all, generators use other people’s art to learn how to create an image out of a prompt. None of these original artists have agreed to have their art used for machine learning, which could suggest that AI is plagiarizing their work.

Stereotyping

Since machine learning requires human-made content to learn how to make art, chances are you’ll end up with some questionable images. Companies behind AI generators are doing their best to remove stereotyping and negative representations. But you can still see biased art posted all over social media as an example that AI isn’t perfect.

The reason is that datasets are biased, which can highlight discrimination and inequality. The only solution is to use diverse datasets for training algorithms so that the generated images are not discriminatory. There will probably be an error of two occasionally, but not as frequently as today.

Final thoughts

Nikon’s advertising campaign should inspire and remind us that true beauty is in the real world. Surely, AI-generated photographs look magical and almost perfect, but you have to look behind the scenes and understand this technology.

Real artists work hard every day to deliver exceptional pieces through various mediums, and they should be celebrated for that. Machine learning requires large amounts of data, and the whole internet is fair game.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use AI generators for simple tasks or even amusement. However, acknowledging creative people who have made the original art is a priority. People should learn how to spot the use of AI technology, especially when it comes to journalism and photography.

Not to forget that the world of AI needs more rules and regulations that could prevent AI-generated images from being used in promotions, campaigns, and news. In case they appear on social media platforms, AI-generated content should have a disclaimer that informs the audience of the source of the image.

The importance of ethical standards couldn’t be stressed enough because AI uses the likenesses of real people, and those individuals should give their consent. It is evident that AI generators are not going anywhere, so adapting and keeping them up to standards is a must.

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