OK, Computer: the first photo contest, the jury in which there was artificial intelligence

An unusual photo contest in early February was held by the IBT publication together with the team of the popular EyeEm application. Photographers were invited to participate in the competition of minimalistic photography of urban architecture, and the right to choose the winner was given to artificial intelligence. If recognizing objects in a photo can already be called a common practice for AI, then aesthetic judgment is definitely something new.

The theme of the contest was called "Graphic City". The photographers were asked to focus on geometric lines, angles and curves of urban architecture in order to identify interesting minimalist compositions from all corners of the planet — and, probably, to set the artificial intelligence program a set of criteria for evaluating images.

The selected frames really look like they are to the taste of the computer — the lines resting against each other, the clear separation of shapes, colors and shadows, symmetry. Despite the geometric style of the photographs, they depict very colorful and unusual compositions.

The victory — according to the evaluation judgment of artificial intelligence — by a large margin went to the American photographer Jeremy Walter. Among the 46 thousand images received, several of his works were in the top 50 at once. However, the human edition of the publication was of the same opinion. According to the photographer himself, he may have a lot in common with the program that was entrusted to judge the competition.

Keywords: Architecture | Geometry | Jury | Artificial intelligence | Best photos | Minimalism | Neural networks | Color photos

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