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E: Good morning, Photographer.
P: Good morning, Economist.
E: I'd like to talk about your future, Photographer.
P: Do I have one?
E: That's my question. I don't mean your personal future, but that of your profession, the photographers.
P: How do you come up with this question?
E: Doesn't artificial intelligence make your work superfluous? If I want a photo, I enter descriptive terms into ChatGPT, and a short time later, I receive many wonderful pictures.
P: I've never been a fan of commissioned work. So that doesn't bother me much.
E: But if all images can be created thanks to AI, why do we still need you, Photographer?
P: Why do you play chess, Economist, when all the potential moves already exist?
E: I don’t get that comparison.
P: The point is: there has always been technological progress. The fact that I can take photos the way I do is mainly a result of that progress. In this respect, AI is just another way of taking, or better, creating, photos.
E: But in the future, without you, the photographers.
P: People are primarily interested in people.
E: What do you mean by that again?
P: We are social beings. We want to know what others think, feel, how they act, what they do. Photography shows this in two ways. In front of and behind the camera. Photos can show people's lives in all facets, and pictures also say a lot about the photographer who takes them.
E: So AI won’t play a role in photography?
P: Of course it will, a big role.
E: Which one?
P: As you correctly guessed, orders will be dropped for everything a photographer isn’t needed anymore. And art will be enriched by new possibilities. But especially in art, AI is not an end but a means to an end.
E: But to what extent will artificial intelligence change the future of photography?
P: I don't know the future. But I notice an increasing need for authenticity. My conviction: If the potential to be manipulated increases, when the number of spurious images increases, then a counter-movement will arise. People want to see the real thing, how life is and how people are. Therefore, I believe that simple, unedited, imperfect images will be in greater demand in the future.
E: Now you've seen the future anyway.
P: Caught. But I am sure, it will be a future with photographers.
< silence >
E: Your photos are all taken by you personally, aren't they?
P: All.
E: I had thought so. Somehow your photos don't look like AI. But you can never be sure.
P: You never can. – And say, Economist, your texts are all written by you personally, right?
E: They all are, Photographer.
P: I had thought so. Somehow they don't read like AI. But you can never be sure.
E: You never can.
P: Have a nice day, Economist.
E: You too, Photographer.
Strolling Economist and Accidental Photographer sometimes go their own ways – the economist here, the photographer there.
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