SAPF Judging and AI
There have been many questions about AI and photography competitions in general, and some of those questions have come to me about judging in SAPF member clubs.
First, all international and national photographic bodies have specified in their rules that all components of a photograph entered in any competition or exhibition must have a photographic origin.
I would advise clubs to add this to their competition rules, as it is their responsibility to manage the eligibility of entries in their competitions.
As such, there have not been any specific instructions to judges on AI.
The main reason is that the club is responsible for ensuring that its competition rules reinforce that any entry into its photography competitions has been captured on a light-sensitive medium (e.g., Film or digital sensor)—in essence, a camera. The only exception is the creative use of an enlarger and photo paper in a wet darkroom.
The arguments around this, compounded by the confusing uses of the term AI:
Software that uses AI techniques to improve post-processing (such as Topaz AI applications) acts in the realm of photo editing the original capture.
Software that creates visual “art” from text-based instruction does not use a photographic process and is more accurately referred to as CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) as used in the movie & TV industry.
The complication will arise when popular software such as Photoshop offers AI capabilities for its graphic arts customer base.
In simple terms, this is comparable to the current requirements for all exhibitions and photographic bodies, which state that all elements (e.g., composites or sky replacement) are the work of the submitting author.
In the past, clubs have dealt internally with people using downloaded elements in their entries. Judges with varying degrees of technical understanding cannot be expected to “police” this.
I have no doubt that someone will eventually try it on, as they have in the past, with downloaded elements and even plagiarism or stolen photographs. I firmly believe that this is best controlled at the club level and is reliant on the integrity of club members who have joined a photography or camera club—not a computer club.
Keith Seidel EFIAP/b, GMAPS, SSAPS
SAPF Judging Coordinator
Ph 0418 838 504
Notice to clubs via SAPF Website Issued November 2024