Will photographers be replaced by AI?
There are more images being created than ever before and the overwhelming majority are not being created by professional photographers. Mobile phones offer a cheap, simple way to get an OK image. This eliminated the low-end market for photography and camera sales have reduced dramatically over the past 15 years. AI is the second wave of change. Mobile phones eliminated the low-end market for images and AI will eliminate much of the mid-market – for images like generic pictures for web sites and advertising, basic product shots and fast-fashion e-commerce photos.
So if images of reasonable quality can now be created by anyone for free (or almost for free) with their mobile phone or AI, why do I think some photographers will still be doing just fine years into the future? What kinds of photography will always be created by professional photographers rather than an algorithm?