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If you squint, you might think it’s a photograph at first glance. His Facebook ad for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) shows a couple cuddling in the front row of a concert hall.
But take a second look and you’ll see why this caused an uproar among creative workers and the unions that represent them. The couple’s tangled fingers are too big and too many. It has a strange sheen and looks like a wax figure. She is wearing a jewel-encrusted tulle dress and he is wearing a tuxedo, but he is also wearing a jewel-encrusted tulle dress. Also, she has a large cube on her lap.
“Why don’t you do something different this Saturday? Come see the orchestra play.” read the ad. This was clearly created by someone who had never seen an orchestra perform, and it shows rows of violinists sitting in the audience, often playing with three hands, one hand, or no hands at all. I imagine it is.
This photo, shared by QSO on February 22nd, appears to be sourced from stock image aggregator Shutterstock. where is it listed Under the AI prompt, “Two people go on a date at a romantic indoor classical music concert.”
On Tuesday, industry group Media Entertainment Arts Alliance (MEAA) called it “The worst AI-generated artwork I’ve ever seen.”
“This is inappropriate, unprofessional, and disrespectful to the audience and the QSO musicians,” they added. “Creative workers and audiences deserve better from arts organizations.”
The post also received criticism in the replies. One comment reads, “Next time, please use a paid photographer.” Another person criticized it, calling it “terrible, an arts organization that literally doesn’t use artists.”
Classical Music Industry Blog Slipped Disc The ad was first reported by claimed that it caused “uproar” and “fury” among the orchestra’s players.
The Queensland Symphony Orchestra did not comment on the claims but justified its use of AI imagery in a statement to Guardian Australia. We are an orchestra for all Queenslanders, so we will continue to use new marketing tools and techniques.
Daniel Boudot is a Sydney-based freelance photographer who is often hired by major performing arts companies for promotional images and production shots. Although he hasn’t yet seen his own work being taken over by AI, he says: “I’m getting more and more briefs where mockups are done by AI, so design agencies and marketers are I would be using AI to visualize a concept, and then it would be presented to me in a way that makes it a reality. This is a reasonable use of AI because it doesn’t take away anyone’s job.”
He called QSO advertising “not well thought out.”
“For me, this should have been a mock-up for the actual shoot. It’s a great concept. But have real musicians playing in a real theater.”
“I sympathize, too. It would cost thousands of dollars to make it happen in the real world.
“But the images they used are terrible, so that doesn’t mean photographers will lose their jobs. But I hope that as technology advances, it doesn’t become the new norm.”
AI-generated images have sparked a lot of discussion and outrage since their rise in recent years due to the accessibility of consumer tools like Dall-E and Midjourney. Much of the controversy revolves around the potential for AI to devalue or plagiarize human artists.
In the past 18 months, at least two art awards have made headlines after winners were found to have used AI to generate or alter their works. “I’m not going to apologize for that.” Jason M. Allen said, winner of the Digital Artist Award at the 2022 Colorado State Fair. “I won the award. I didn’t break any rules.”
In 2023, German artist Boris Eldergsen won the Sony World Photography Award for his AI-generated black and white photo of two women. He later admitted he had “entered as a cocky monkey” to incite discourse on AI ethics and refused to return the award.
Last September, the Australian Financial Review included an AI-generated image of the subject in its annual list of the country’s 10 most culturally influential people.
“How quickly can you tell it’s fake?” the publication asked. Editor Justify your decisions at the time.
For many, the answer was “surprisingly fast,” given the eccentricity of the marionette-like Margot Robbie and multi-fingered Sam Kerr.
Source: www.theguardian.com