How AI is disrupting the photography business

The big picture: Photography has been in a state of transition for decades — from the rise of photo-editing tool Photoshop to the explosion of digital images and the decline of film — but AI now poses an existential threat.

• AI can compose entirely original photos, providing a cheaper and more efficient alternative to expensive photoshoots for individuals and businesses.
• And those images are only getting more believable by the day.
• "AI headshot generators are great tools for creating professional images in less time," according to writer Anangsha Alammyan's comprehensive review of more than 30 of such tools. "But they have limitations when it comes to getting the right style, enough editing options or realistic expressions in the image."

Threat level: One newly threatened area of photography is the business of headshots.

• Online AI tools can create increasingly realistic headshots that don't exist with people wearing clothes they don't own in places they haven't visited.
• One such tool, Profile Bakery, claimed that 92% of people can't tell the difference between AI headshots and the real deal.
• These tools "can do basically whatever you ask it to do," George Mason University photography professor Stephanie Benassi tells Axios. "So if you're struggling to come up with [a budget] and you need photography, one of the first places that people are generally going to look at is how can I get this done the cheapest?"

Another area that's facing significant upheaval is stock photography.

• For example, most new stock images of food are already AI-generated, Benassi says.

Major brands like Nike or Apple will likely still demand genuine images in marketing materials, Benassi predicts.

• "I think they are going to be very specific about how authentic they want those images to be," she says, though she suggested that most of those jobs will go to experienced photographers, while entry-level shooters struggle to get gigs.

• "Smaller operations" will be more likely to embrace AI images, she says.

Yes, but: The public's desire for authenticity is a countervailing force to AI-generated images.

• Naeem Mohaiemen, head of the photography concentration in the Visual Arts Department at Columbia University, says he recently conducted a portrait photo shoot that showed the power of "human creativity, error, and variation in photograph."
• "A machine solution may finish the portrait session in a third of the time, but it would produce polished surfaces and nil soul," Mohaiemen tells Axios in an email.
• Benassi says she doesn't expect AI imagery to overtake traditional wedding photography, for instance.
• And some outlets, such as Getty Images and many news organizations, have banned AI-generated images.

To be sure, photographers have gotten new powers from AI tools.

• AI facilitates easier editing, more efficient photo identification and improved file management

The bottom line: Savings from AI photography will be compelling to businesses and consumers when good enough is good enough.