AI-generated image wins Sony World Photography Awards category; artist turns down the prize

Boris Eldagsen submitted an AI-generated image to the Sony World Photography Awards' creative photo category and won. The black-and-white image, titled PSEUDOMNESIA: The Electrician, depicts an older woman embracing a younger one in a style reminiscent of 1940s family portraits. Eldagsen then turned down the award, revealing the image was created using DALL-E 2 through text prompts, inpainting, and outpainting.

"I applied as a cheeky monkey, to find out if the [competitions] are prepared for AI images to enter. They are not," Eldagsen wrote on his website. He had also submitted the image to two other competitions, where it was a finalist in both. The press release announcing the win had described the image as "haunting" and "reminiscent of the visual language of 1940s family portraits." Eldagsen noted that telltale AI artifacts were visible in the image — inconsistent color grading and oddities in the fingers and arm — but said that by the end of the year, "we won't be able to tell."