A German artist rejected an award from a prestigious international photography contest after revealing that his submission was generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Berlin-based Boris Eldagsen won the creative open category at this year’s Sony World Photography Award with his work “Pseudomnesia: The Electrician.”

The eerie black and white image shows two women of different generations: the older woman appears to be clinging to the younger one from behind.

Organizers said they were informed of some AI involvement, but said there had been “deliberate” attempts to mislead them.

Eldagsen said he hoped his actions would open up the conversation on the topic and lead to “separate competitions for AI-generated images.”

Eldagsen said in a statement shared on his website that he had been a “cheeky monkey” in an attempt to open the conversation around artificially generated images.

“Thank you for selecting my image and making this a historic moment as it is the first AI generated image to win in a prestigious (sic) international PHOTOGRAPHY contest. How many of you knew or suspected that it was AI generated? Something about this doesn’t feel right, right?”

He continued: “AI images and photography should not compete with each other for an award like this. They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore, I will not accept the award.”

He said he applied “like a cheeky monkey” to find out if the contests “are set up for AI images to participate in. They are not.”

Eldagsen told CNN on Tuesday: “It shows that right now the world of photography has been taken by surprise after this development that you can subtly create images that look like photographs but you don’t need to have the skills and experience of photographers.”

He said AI had made many photographers feel “threatened and afraid of losing their jobs, which will happen.”

Eldagsen said his intention was not to create problems, but to start an important conversation.

“It wasn’t about winning anything,” he said. “I was just doing a test to see if they were aware, like a hacker hacking into a system not to exploit it, but to see if there are weaknesses.”

In additional statements on its website, it said it had informed organizers of AI’s involvement.

Organizers said 2023 saw the highest number of nominations in the awards’ 16-year history. More than 415,000 images were entered in this year’s contests, of which more than 180,000 were eligible for the professional categories.

Three finalists were chosen in each category, as well as between five and seven pre-selected photographers. The selected images were taken by photographers from more than 30 countries in locations ranging from an abandoned cement factory in China to a fish market in Somalia.

The World Photography Organization, which organizes the contest, told CNN in a statement on Tuesday that, during contest exchanges with Eldagsen before announcing him as the category winner on March 14, it had confirmed the “co-creation” of this image using AI.

“The creative category of the open competition welcomes diverse experimental approaches to image creation, from cyanotypes and rayographs to cutting-edge digital practices,” organizers said.

“As such, following our correspondence with Boris and the assurances he provided, we felt that his participation met the criteria for this category and we supported his participation. Additionally, we were eager to participate in a more in-depth discussion on this topic and appreciated Boris’ desire to engage in dialogue by preparing questions for a dedicated Q&A session with him for our website.

“Like him [Eldagsen] He has now decided to reject his prize, we have suspended our activities with him and, in accordance with his wishes, we have withdrawn him from the competition. Given his actions and his subsequent statement outlining his deliberate attempts to mislead us and thereby invalidate the assurances he provided, we no longer feel we can engage in meaningful and constructive dialogue with him.”

The statement said organizers recognize “the importance of this issue and its impact on image-making today.”

“While elements of AI practices are relevant in artistic contexts of image creation, the awards have always been and will continue to be a platform to champion the excellence and skill of photographers and artists working in this medium,” the World Photography Organization added.

Image above: Boris Eldagsen’s AI-generated image titled ‘Pseudomnesia: The Electrician’ was submitted to the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 and won first prize in the creative open category.