‘Come say, “Fuck AI,” at the 5 Boro Foto Fest’ — in NYC this fall!

‘Come say, “Fuck AI,” at the 5 Boro Foto Fest’ — in NYC this fall!

I spoke to Chris Gampat (Phoblographer), who is organizing the event, about what AI means to him and how he’s planning to offer visitors unadulterated access to something that’s been under (a new) threat as of late — human-made art.

The artist alley-style festival promises to showcase local zines, books, mixed media, and more under the banner of “no generative AI.” The title of this post comes straight from the marketing material; I like it.

This is a free event. Attend on October 25th between 11 AM and 5 PM at 5-25 46th Ave (The Plaxall Gallery — Long Island City). Details & RSVP: 5borofotofest.com/attend. You can also check out their long list of exhibitors here: 5borofotofest.com/exhibito….

AI is seeping into many aspects of our lives, including the creative arts and many of us are forced to contend with it. I’ve recently published an AI Use Policy on this blog (analog.cafe/comments/wyaj), but Chris has an even bigger task of defining and regulating technology across 42 artists and vendors at once. I wanted to ask him how and why he’s doing this.

Chris Gampat is the founder and Editor in Chief of a popular photography website, the Phoblographer (thephoblographer.com).

Chris’s relationship with the technology is not one-dimensional. When I asked him where he would draw the line in a world saturated with this technology, giving an example of an AI tool that would automatically remove dust & scratches on film scans, his answer revealed a nuanced pathway many artists are now forced to navigate:

“AI should be additive and used to augment humans, not replace us. I’m a high functioning blind man and I use it for a few things work related. But those things are often tasks that I could easily do myself or that otherwise take a ton of time. When I want something done really right though, I hop in myself. I’ve never been afraid to get my hands dirty; which is a trait that other business owners tell me is commendable.

Minor retouching like what you’re talking about is assistive. That tech has been around for years but it’s been fed to AI to do depending on what program you’re using to do the edits. And obviously if it’s in the darkroom, it’s not AI.”

The concept for machine learning has been around since roughly the 1950s, and we’ve been benefiting from this technology in many ways since, often without realizing. The generative aspect and its recent proliferation are the result of all the work being done earlier. But of course, a technology that relies on data so heavily is bound to have issues, and its modern architects managed to make it terrible for the creatives in more ways than one. But it is still very helpful and very tempting to use to bypass the tasks that bring us joy (like making art) to save time or to mask the lack of skill. It is also becoming difficult to detect. So I’ve asked Chris how he’s planning to ensure that the 5 Boro Foto Fest is indeed AI-free; his response:

“Phoblographer is the only accredited photo publication that’s a member of Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative. When you join, they give you special tools and seminars on how to deal with issues just like this.

Plus, there’s a bunch of browser tools that I’ve used.

But the most important check: because we’ve been around for 17 years we know that these photographers don’t use generative AI in their work. And if they do, they’re promising to not bring it to the festival. On top of that, the photographers are vetted by all the partners. So we all sign off on it.”

It’s a good reminder that while we may not be able to trust content as much as we did before, a promise made by someone we trust is just as valuable as it ever was.

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