The Dangers of Using AI to Create Images of Yourself and Your Pets

Imagine a future where photoshoots aren't a thing. All the photos on your walls from your wedding, your first dog you got in your 20s, the family portraits at the beach, none of them are real. To save a few bucks you inserted a prompt into chatGPT to get free images of all the important things in your life. How convienent! It saved you hundreds of dollars, hours of research and planning with your photographer, and an evening spent outside dressed up. Photographers and other artists have been run out of business by AI, so this is the norm. If you do want real photos, that's what your phone is for!

This might just happen if we don't stand up and acknowledge the damages it can do to businesses and communities. With the use of AI and chatGPT on the rise, we need to be considerate of how this will impact all of us. Whether it be our jobs, education, safety, or other areas of our lives, there is no doubt that artifical intellegience is changing a lot of things for both the better and worse. A new trend to use AI to create images of people and their pets is booming right now. As an artist and small business owner, here are some things you should consider before hopping on the bandwagon.

I could go into lots of details about how platforms such as chatGPT save your data and images, etc., but am choosing to only focus on what I know and care the most about- photography.

While AI images are cool and convenient, they are not real. Any photo of yourself that you upload is changed drastically to make "better". Small details such as freckles, wrinkes, markings on your dog, are changed to make you look closer to perfect. But I am here to tell you you're perfect just the way you are! A photo without those defining features are NOT you!

More importantly, they hold no real memories. While it may be faster and cheaper to type a prompt and have a robot create photos of you, it will never replace the memories of an evening spent in a sunny field in early summer, laughing and smiling while you get candid photos taken of you and your heart horse. Or at that local photographer's studio tossing treats to get those goofy portraits of your dog catching them mid-air. When your pet crosses over the rainbow bridge all you have left is the memories you made together, and your photos should reflect that! You are paying for an experience to remember for years to come, it is an investment worth every penny.

By choosing to support a robot over a local small business, you are crushing dreams and devaluing years of someone's hard work. Me and the countless other photographers across the globe have spent years mastering the art of black background portraits, perfecting both natural and artificial lighting, spent thousands of dollars on gear and education, and countless hours building a brand for ourselves. Now, all of that is slowly being taken away by AI. A robot with no talent, no passions, no dreams, no heart. Authenticity of artists will always trump the vanity of AI. Choose now to support someone in your community's passions, dreams, and hard work before it's too late.

This barely scratches the surface on the harms of AI, and only covers the damages being done to one industry. Supporting local businesses and artists is always the way to go. With many of us losing more and more business every day, it's something that needs to be considered before it's too late!  

AI is after our industry. Yours might be next.

real photo taken by Laken Equine Photography