Photography Magazine Quietly Publishes AI Cover To See If Readers Will Catch On
New research reveals that artificial images officially look more genuine to people than actual photos. Who knows? The next time you see an A-lister on the cover of a magazine, they’ll probably be deepfaked.
Intrigued by the dramatic advances of generative artificial intelligence, French photography magazine Réponses Photo is publishing a faux portrait of a non-existent person for the front of its March 2023 issue.
PetaPixel, which caught an exclusive first look at the cover, shares that the magazine brought its doleful subject to life by entering the prompt “photo of an old sailor at night in front of his boat taken on an analog medium format camera” into AI generator Midjourney. It’s worth reiterating that, although it is a photography magazine, Réponses Photo, for once, didn’t have to use an actual camera.
Ceci n'est pas une photo @reponsesphoto #iA pic.twitter.com/1KlAP6IrYP
— HistoirePolice (@PoliceHistoire) February 5, 2023
There is no mention of the image being artificially created on the cover. Instead, Réponses Photo discloses its secret only within the magazine’s pages, where it takes the time to highlight how far AI technology has evolved in a short span of time, along with the new challenges of night photography, which is the main focus of the issue.
Editor-in-chief Thibaut Godet explains that the magazine wanted to mimic the style of its iconic photographs.
For context, here’s the cover of Réponses Photo’s January/February 2023 issue, actually lensed by Raymond Depardon.
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The secrecy leaves readers to guess if something is amiss. There’s a chance they won’t even notice.
All told, Godet asserts that Midjourney still has its shortcomings. The machine struggles to replicate eyes and hands, often giving figures more fingers than is humanly possible.
Réponses Photo also went through “300 tests” with Midjourney to land on the perfect shot of the sailor. So, fret not; at least for now, AI results aren’t always as instantly gratifying as clicking the shutter button on your camera.
Though, it all goes to prove: one should never judge a magazine by its cover.
[via PetaPixel and Réponses Photo, images via various sources]
