The Authenticity of Photographs
A little known, one-of-a-kind car drives through the evening streets of Paris, with the Eiffel Tower clearly visible in the background. But the photo isn't authentic. That's because the Owen Sedanca shown in the auction catalog wasn't actually driving in the pictures—it was photographed stationary in a warehouse.
Of course, the dynamic shot in the evening light is much more appealing, but it's simply less authentic.
Another seemingly authentic image shows a Peugeot 203 in evening traffic in rainy Paris in the fifties. This image, too, is a fake, generated by “artificial intelligence.”
The original image looked much more static and, frankly, less attractive; it was taken for an auction. A little AI, a little “prompting,” and suddenly the Peugeot is transported back in time. The fact that the steering wheel is now black instead of white probably doesn't bother anyone.
In both cases, at least, very little manipulation was done to the car itself. But “artificial intelligence” can do much more than that. For example, it can turn a one-of-a-kind car into a radical restomod.
And AI can do even more. It can also bring cars to life that never actually existed. Or it can place cars in settings where they've never been. The technology is already quite good at handling reflections. And the speed at which the technology is improving is breathtaking. Not long ago, we laughed at AI-generated photos where the steering wheel was “mounted” in front of the back seats—that's ancient history now. Soon, it will be nearly impossible to distinguish seventy-year-old photographs from newly generated images—if that isn't already the case today. There will then be virtually no limits to the imagination, making it all the more difficult to distinguish what is historically accurate and verified from what is completely or partially invented.
How acceptable are such AI-generated photos, which are entertaining and aesthetically pleasing but not authentic? We've formulated a “Question of the month” on this topic, where Zwischengas readers can share their opinions…
