Looks as if the experts are having a hard time:
Artificial intelligence-generated images have won or placed as finalists in several major photography and art competitions, sparking widespread controversy over authenticity in visual arts. [1, 2, 3]
## [Sony World Photography Awards](https://www.google.com/search?q=sony+world+photography+awards&kgmid=/g/11s8tpfkfm) (2023)
* Image Title: PSEUDOMNESIA: The Electrician
* Creator: Boris Eldagsen (Berlin-based artist)
* Details: Created using DALL-E 2, this black-and-white portrait of two women from the 1940s won the Creative category of the prestigious [Sony World Photography Awards](https://www.google.com/search?q=sony+world+photography+awards&kgmid=/g/11s8tpfkfm). Eldagsen declined the award, admitting the image was AI-generated to test whether competitions were prepared for synthetic entries. [1]
## digiDirect Weekly Photo Contest (2023)
* Image Title: Sunset Surfers (Aerial view of glowing breaking waves)
* Creator: Absolutely AI (Submitted under the pseudonym "Jan Van Eyck")
* Details: This drone-style capture of surfers in sunrise-lit water won an Australian consumer electronics retailer's weekly contest. The studio later revealed the image was 100% machine-generated to test judging oversight. [4, 5, 6, 7]
## Maryland State Fair Open Class Home Arts (2026)
* Image Title: Cybernetic Ram (Heavily AI-edited image)
* Creator: Guy Alston
* Details: An AI-embellished picture of a cybernetic ram won first place in the "Neon Lights" photography category. The win triggered fierce backlash from human photographers and led organizers to ban AI modifications in future contests. [8, 9]
## Hasselblad Masters Competition (2026)
* Image Title: Street Scene Finalist Entry
* Details: An AI-generated street photograph managed to fool judges and reach the finalist stage in the street category before telltale AI flaws—such as unreadable text and missing limbs—were widely noticed. [2]
## Nikon Small World In Motion (Disqualified, 2024/2025)
* Details: The winner of a prominent microscopic video and photo competition was stripped of its prize after judges and fellow scientists discovered the entry relied on generative AI composition, violating strict microscopic-capture rules. [10]
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Note: The reverse phenomenon has also occurred—photographer Miles Astray intentionally submitted a real photo of an awkward-looking flamingo ("Flamingone") into AI-generated art contests (winning third place and the People's Choice Award) before disqualifying himself to make a point about human emotion versus synthetic content.
A real photograph won an AI-generated art contest when Miles Astray submitted a genuine photo of a flamingo titled "Flamingone" to the 1839 Awards AI category.
The "Flamingone" Example
• The Photo: Taken in Aruba in 2022 using a Nikon D750 camera, the picture shows a real flamingo twisting its body to scratch its belly, making the bird look headless and surreal.
• The Contest: Astray submitted the real image into an artificial intelligence art competition to prove that human-made emotion and reality still surpass algorithms.
• The Result: The image fooled the judges and the public, winning third place and the People's Vote Award in the AI category.
• The Aftermath: Astray voluntarily told the organizers the truth to make his point, which led to his official disqualification out of fairness to the other AI-generated entries.
[1] [https://www.scientificamerican.com](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-my-ai-image-won-a-major-photography-competition/)
[2] [https://www.youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBe_cin94mo)
[3] [https://www.youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOpp33P-GsQ)
[4] [https://mostsublime.substack.com](https://mostsublime.substack.com/p/this-ai-image-just-won-a-photo-contest)
Wolfhag
