German artist Boris Eldagsen has sparked controversy in the photography world after winning an award at the Sony World Photography Awards for his work generated by artificial intelligence (AI), AFP reported on Tuesday, Agerpres reported.

The jury initially accused the artist of “deliberate” misleading behavior, then retracted its accusations in a subsequent press release.

Eldagsen has defended himself by saying he has always been transparent about the nature of his work, but on Tuesday decided to decline the award.

In mid-March, the work of Boris Eldagsen – a sepia-toned image of two women titled “Pseudomania: The Electrician” – received a prize for creativity at the Sony World Photography Awards.

“Naughty Monkey”

Eldagsen admitted in an interview that he wanted to spark a debate about the place of artificial intelligence, and said last week that “AI-generated images and photographs should not compete together in an award like this.”

He said he applied to the contest “as a cheeky monkey” to see if the contests were open to AI insults. “No,” concluded Eldagsen.

Many photographers fear that artificial intelligence will threaten their profession, offering anyone the ability to create amazing images starting with descriptive text.

The very rapid development of image generators has already led to several lawsuits, as these tools are “trained” by vast databases of works found on the Internet, often protected by copyright.

The art world raised the issue last year after an image created by artificial intelligence won a prize in the US state of Colorado.