Artificial Intelligence Question/Response

Question: Why is CAPA taking a firm stance against admitting AI-generative art images into CAPA competitions?

Response: The traditional definition of photography is closely tied to the process of capturing images via a camera or other light-sensitive device that records the real world. AI-generated art, despite its potential to create visually striking imagery, fundamentally differs from this process as it does directly record light from physical reality.

For the photographic community to potentially consider AI-generated art under a broader definition of “photography” as a new form of artistic expression, all concerns and issues surrounding AI generative images would need to be comprehensively addressed to their satisfaction first.

If the definition of “photography” was expanded, the only conceivable way for photographic competitions to incorporate AI-generated art would be through distinct, separate categories from the traditional camera-captured photographs. This segregation would be necessary to uphold the integrity of camera-based photography, as integrating AI art and photographed images into the same category would unfairly disadvantage the latter given the vastly different generative processes involved.

From the current perspective, it does not appear that the photographic community has plans to make accommodations for AI-generated art in competitions anytime soon, likely awaiting further resolution of outstanding issues around this new art form.

Photographs enhanced with AI-generated features occupy a ‘gray-area’ between traditional camera-captured images and purely AI-generated art. The crucial difference is that the AI-generated elements in these enhanced photographs did not originate from the photographer’s camera; instead, they were sourced from an AI’s dataset.

As photographic societies and associations consider whether to accept AI-enhanced images into their competitions, they will need to implement processes to distinguish between camera-captured photographs and those augmented with AI components. Such processes are necessary to prevent AI-generated content from unintentionally or deliberately entering and dominating competitions intended solely for traditional photography.

The implementation of these distinguishing mechanisms will depend on third-part AI detection software, as most photographic societies lack the resources to develop such tools independently.

For details on the issues surrounding AI-generative images – please see our article entitled “CAPA’s Stance on AI-Generated Images In Photo Competitions.

You can view this document here – (English) (French) 

Updated CAPA Eligibility Criteria Webpage

The following details have been added to our CAPA Eligibility Criteria webpage:

• A photographer will NOT capture a screen image or photograph an image found on the internet and incorporate it in a composite image that is later submitted into our competition. All aspects of the post-processing for their submitted image were undertaken by the entrant with the exception of scanning of their negatives and printing of the image.