Mindless AI Deepfake Ruins Bruce Davidson's Classic Photo

Anything that was produced by artificial intelligence (AI) that looks like a photograph is a machine-generated illusion of a photograph. It is very likely that any photo modified via AI should no longer be considered a faithful rendering of the original. 

Let's talk about the latter: a photo that should never be modified by AI. 

It's a well-known, haunting photo by a historic documentarian named Bruce Davidson captures a fleeting moment of a young girl pushing a pram in the Welsh mining village of Cwmcarn. The girl's expression, the bosition of his hand and foot, all provide a counterpoint to the bleak landscape of hanging laundry, sooty buildings, the deserted road, and the factory smokestacks in the background. Every detail of this classic black-and-white photo adds to the story.

Wales, 1965. Photo by Bruce Davidson, reproduced here for educational purposes.

Unfortunately, a recent Facebook post presents an AI-altered version of the photo, giving Bruce Davidson credit without acknowledging the obvious fact that the photo was altered from the original. 

A fake AI image based on the Bruce Davidson photo, top, presented on FB by the ironically named "Simple is Beautiful in Photography".

A casual viewer (as opposed to The Casual Observer) will of course see that the photo has been colorized. But they may not notice the subtle change in the girl's expression compared to the original, the repositioning of both of her hands against the doll cart, or even how her leg's position has been changed. These subtle changes affect the overall image. Instead of one hand perhaps signalling "stop" to the photographer, it is simply grasping the bar. Her mid-stride is replaced with the depiction of her standing still.

None of that is a faithful description of what the Davidson's camera captured. It is nothing less than a subtle erasure of history.

If I hadn't called out whoever created the deepfake AI version, would anyone have noticed?

I contacted Bruce and I hope he follows up. He is 90 years old now and I don't know how he feels about protecting this aspect of his legacy. But it is important for photographers to protect their phots from being turned into unauthorized AI monstrosities.

--Mason Resnick

March, 2024

(First in an ongoing series about artificial intelligence and photography)

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