Who’s worried about AI?

Not me.

These days the most common question I get asked is some variation of “AI is amazing, aren’t you worried that it will impact your work?”.

And when AI first came out? I was very scared. If people can generate their own images, why do they need me? Abstract wall art? ask AI. A landscape scene for illustrative purposes only? AI can probably do that too…..

Could this be made by AI? Probably (but it’s not)

But for images of you, your children, or your business? Well…..AI can do it….but it will look….well…..fake. Now if you want an image of the impossible, like junior scoring a goal for Argentina in the World Cup, then you either learn photoshop, or get AI to do it. And that makes sense. But you’re probably not going to send that image to your relatives and claim that it happened.

Would you replace this image with an AI version of your kids?

So after a bit of thought, I think there’s definitely scope for some photographers to be worried about AI. For instance, if what you do is take poor quality images of gradients or backgrounds, or illustrative photos for use in novels etc, then maybe you should be worried. But for sports photographers like myself? People will always want to preserve their memories, capture their special moments, and celebrate what is special about them. And no amount of AI is going to do that.

AI might be able to give you the image, but it will never replace this experience

PS: for the record, I don’t use AI for creating images, everything you see is 100% Bluemoosephotos work. And always will be.