The AI creations we get presented with on social media are getting increasingly ridiculous. A massive tornado over a deep canyon? Bring it on. A burning furnace of ash and embers over the coast? Yes, please.
Or really? All those concoctions are missing one essential ingredient. Ok, not just one. But in this article, I'll focus on what I think is the most important piece AI images are missing.
It's fun playing around with prompts and witnessing what an AI dreams up based on your input. There's also skill involved in prompt engineering. Imagination is also required to guide the AI.
Is this art? It doesn't matter if it is—the AI images I see leave me cold and disconnected. Even those attempting to maintain realism don't convey the same emotions as actual landscape photos. But why is that? The editing applied to real photos is also often over the top, and the depicted landscapes can lose their identity in the process.
Some argue my photos are like that because I sometimes give them a dreamy look. The difference is that even edited photos still show real places. It's the only reason I am still on social media and follow other photographers.
Their work inspires me and creates a longing to visit those places someday. And even if that's not possible because I don't have the funds, I still imagine how it would be standing at those viewpoints. With AI images, that's not the case.
There's no sense of awe, no longing, no marveling about the beauty of our world. What's there is curiosit.
