AI Photography

While watching the World Cup, I kept seeing ads for a new phone that can get rid of visual distractions.

With students often using their phone to take photos for student media, this might be a great time to discuss this feature from an ethical standpoint.

It might be a great reason to revisit photo manipulation and the ethics surrounding this topic as a whole. The age-old question of “If images can so easily be manipulated, how do we know the image is real?”

Additionally, you might want to include a discussion concerning the role AI plays in this. Also, on the JEA listserv, a great discussion happened concerning AI and its use in student media.

Thanks to Mark Webber who posted: “Can AI win a photography competition? Take the Turing Test. This brought about quite a discussion in my own house. I bombed the test — and I don’t like bombing tests.) This test is a great way to introduce the concept.

One great question to ask: What role does this take in student media and media in general? How do we show our readers the veracity in what we publish? Does this take the form of a statement or other reader service?

Of course, a coverage point could also be not only the use of AI, which is easily accessible in a quick search, in academic work.

Some resources on photo manipulation:

National Press Photographers Association Code of Ethics

Quill and Scroll’s Principal’s Guide to Scholastic Journalism

JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee Quick Tip on Photo Editing (See the resources here too!)

Read in the original Weekly Scroll here.