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A photographer who gained thousands of followers by sharing impressive portraits has decided to 'come clean' about his pictures being created with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
If the hype around Chat GPT has taught us anything, it's that AI can do a lot these days. Proving that we're well and truly in the future, the technology has the ability to write scripts, plan holidays and hold a conversation.
Millions of people are using AI to help them in their everyday lives, but a lot of Instagram users weren't aware that photographer Jos Avery was one of them.
Posting under the handle @averyseasonart, Avery began sharing his portraits in October 2022 and has since racked up more than 38,000 followers.
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His stunning posts allow viewers to stare into the eyes of the subject while his captions offer up intriguing anecdotes about their lives, for example with 'Keen-eyed Nyasha', who finds an 'unusual sort of coin' while strolling through London.
Avery has been widely praised for his posts, with one fan writing: "Oh, this - the model and your photograph of her - is utterly utterly gorgeous."
The photographer previously tried to be vague about how he created the images, though he been known to tell fans they were real photographs and has described using a 'a Nikon D810 with 24-70mm lens' to capture them.
But as Avery's follower count increased, he began to feel more guilty about the assumptions people were making about his work.
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He reached out to Ars Technica for an interview, explaining: "[My Instagram account] has blown up to nearly 12K followers since October, more than I expected."
Saying he'd like to 'come clean', Avery said the account is where he posts 'AI-generated, human-finished portraits'.
"Probably 95 percent [or more] of the followers don't realize," he said.
"It seems 'right' to disclose [AI-generated art in] many ways—more honest, perhaps," Avery added. "However, do people who wear makeup in photos disclose that? What about cosmetic surgery? Every commercial fashion photograph has a heavy dose of Photoshopping, including celebrity body replacement on the covers of magazines."
Only two of the images on Avery's account are actually photographs - he didn't specify which ones, so you'll have to do some digging to try and spot them - but he stressed there's still a lot of artistry and retouching that goes in to making them look photorealistic.
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He creates the images using the AI-powered image synthesis tool Midjourney, which allows users to generate art using text-based descriptions, before combining and retouching the best images using Photoshop.
When he decided to share his story, Avery described himself as 'conflicted'.
"My original aim was to fool people to showcase AI and then write an article about it," he said. "But now it has become an artistic outlet. My views have changed."
Avery's follower count has continued to increase over the last few months, with the bio on his account reading: "Follow for Portraits. Black and white. AI, photos, digital art. Early spring. All with soul, some with humans."
Topics: Instagram, Technology, Viral, Art