From Frame to Code: The Challenges of Artificial Intelligence for Photographers

The rapid development of artificial intelligence raises questions about the value, control, and protection of creativity – issues that are especially relevant to the photography community. It is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish traditional photography from promptography or synthography (terms introduced by the photographer Boris Eldagsen) – AI-generated images that require neither a camera nor a studio nor models, real people. AI systems are being trained on vast amounts of copyright-protected works – is this legal, and how can one protect oneself against it? Images generated by AI are cheaper, faster, and therefore attractive to clients, which threatens photographers’ income. Who bears responsibility if an AI programme produces an image too similar to our original work? Can plagiarism be proven? Another key question is who holds the rights to generated content: the user who inputs the “prompt,” or the company that created the AI? Legal regulation still lags behind technological advances, and organizations representing authors are looking for ways to safeguard their interests.

Ingrida Radovič is the Head of the Arts Department at the Lithuanian Copyright Association (LATGA), working in the field of copyright for more than 10 years, with a focus on the visual arts. She holds a degree in criminology and sociology from Vilnius University and has taught the sociology of deviance. She is interested in new technologies and their impact on creativity and society, as well as the legal regulation of artificial intelligence.

Ingrida Radovič. Photo by Leonardas Borotinskas