Boris Eldagsen
Photomedia Artist
German artist who won the 2023 Sony World Photography Awards with an AI-generated image, refused the prize to force a debate, and champions AI image-making as its own medium — “promptography.”
Why this score
How the formula works →- +2.7proCampaigns for AI adoption
- +2.0proUses AI in their work
- +2.0proHas published AI-made work
- +1.1pro3 pro-AI statements (forceful)
- ±0nuancedHolds a documented two-sided view
Weights, statement counts, the ×1.25 multiplier for having a stake in an AI-impacted field, and the formula’s smoothing are already baked in — the points add up to the score (direction-free evidence pulls toward the middle instead): Strongly Pro-AI · 7.8/10
In his words
I don’t see it as a threat to creativity. For me, it really is setting me free. All the boundaries I had in the past — material boundaries, budgets — no longer matter.
AI images and photography should not compete with each other in an award like this. They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore I will not accept the award.
Promptography is done with prompts. Photography is done with light.
Biography
Boris Eldagsen (born 1970) is a German photomedia artist and educator who spent decades exhibiting conventional photography before turning, in 2022, to generative image tools. He is best known for the most consequential art-prize stunt of the AI era.
The Sony refusal
In April 2023 his image Pseudomnesia: The Electrician — a haunting faux-1940s portrait generated with DALL-E 2 — won the creative category of the Sony World Photography Awards. Eldagsen then revealed the image’s origin and refused the prize, saying he had applied as a “cheeky monkey” to test whether competitions were prepared for AI and to force the photo world to confront the difference. The organizers’ handling of the affair drew far more criticism than the artist did.
Unlike protest entrants such as Miles Astray, Eldagsen’s point was not that AI images are lesser — he makes them. He coined the term “promptography” for the new medium and has argued for separate categories, new terminology, and honest labeling, while touring the lecture circuit as one of Europe’s most visible advocates for AI image-making as a legitimate art form with its own craft of prompting, curation, and post-production.
Quote sources
- Artist statement, 2023(artforum.com)
- BBC, 2023(news.artnet.com)
- The Guardian, 2023(theguardian.com)
Sources & further reading
- Artforum: Sony World Photography Award winner reveals entry was AI-generated, rejects prize (2023)
- Artnet News: A photographer submitted an A.I.-generated image to a prestigious competition to be “cheeky.” It won (2023)
- The Art Newspaper: Photography or “promptography” — a year on from the Sony Awards AI furore (2024)
- The Guardian: “AI isn’t a threat” — Boris Eldagsen, whose fake photo duped the Sony judges, hits back (2023)
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/boris-eldagsen
