Artificial Intelligence is taking over the world, maybe just not as fast as we would have thought.
According to IBM.com, “Artificial Intelligence is technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human intelligence and problem-solving capabilities”.
Hayden Wimmer, an Information Technology Professor at Georgia Southern University explained the concept of Nero Network. He said its “where you can look at natural phenomena’s in nature and kind of mimic those on a computer.”
He compared Nero Network to teaching a human how to swim the fastest possible and that is to strap a dolphin tail on them. This is to teach them how to adapt to the animal and program their behaviors to be like them. Similar to how they train the computer to be like a humans.
We are constantly surrounded by AI and have been for many years, we may have just not noticed. Some examples of AI in recent years would be face recognition, social media, predictive text, chatbots, and smart cars.
The groundwork for AI began in the early 1900’s but major developments didn’t happen until the 1950’s. There have been several well-known breakthroughs throughout this time that have been stepping stones for other scientists.
One of the most well-known examples of the ground breaks is when Arthur Samuel developed a program to play checkers independently in 1952.
A few years later Samuel created another program that was able to play chess better than the humans who made it.
More recently, in 2016, Hanson Robotics created a humanoid named Sophia. It was deemed an official robot citizen. This robot can replicate human appearance and emotions. It also can communicate fully like a human.
Recent developments like Sophia are ones that have scared some of the human population. This put in perspective how powerful robotics and AI can be and the future they may hold in our everyday life.
This fuels the fears that robots might one day replace humans and human jobs.
Wimmer said that AI technology is a big snowball effect. Chatbots became really popular and the programming was introduced into several software’s.
Once it gets big a lot of people began to throw money into it and that’s how they hire and train more people and get more resources and equipment.
AI in photography has been a huge development that some photographers either love or hate.
Some of the benefits that AI can have on workflow is analyze photographs and calculate optimal exposure, correct colors, and adjust shadows according to imagen-ai.com.
Adobe started implementing AI features and software to their programs in 2016. They added AI to photoshop in 2023 with Photoshop Version 25.0.
In Adobe photoshop, editors can use AI to remove things like walls, fire hydrants, or people from the background. It also allows the editor to flip through several options that AI provides to choose which one will best fit the photo.
Wimmer explained that the program inside of photoshop has been trained on so many images and that’s how it is able to provide the editor with so many options to choose from. Wimmer said “they don’t tell you exactly how they you exactly how they do it you know, that’s their secret sauce.”
It can also extend the size of your canvas due to the advanced programing.
Although some photographers fear that AI will replace them and their creativity.
Jaimee Griffin, a Photographer located in Middle Georgia, said “In the beginning it made me anxious! As a photographer, I was worried about AI potentially taking over my job and the thing I’m most passionate about.”
AI can take a description that the editor can insert into the program and create an extreme, highly detailed image within minutes.
Photographers are reminded that AI is just a tool to help their workflow and productivity and there’s no way that a computer can replace the artistic eye and vision.
Griffin said “Once I realized it could be helpful and take off my workload, I started using photoshop AI. I use it almost every season to remove frizzy hair and objects in the background that are distracting to the photo.”
Times are changing and technology is always advancing. People who work in the creative fields have to stay up on the latest technology in order to compete with the competition.
New photographers may depend on AI to be the main tool during the editing process in the future, and they might reap the consequences of it later.
When asked if new photographers should rely solely on AI or learn the skills for themselves Clay Malquist, a Freelance Photographer, said “personally I think both, learn the skills and fundamentals first and foremost, but AI is just another tool for creatives, it’s what you make of it.”