From his home, the lauded documentary photographer began to work on a collection of images about Russia with the help of generative artificial intelligence (AI). He was unprepared for the consequences.

In the late 1980s, De Keyzer travelled to Russia 12 times in the space of a year. The USSR was in its death throes and De Keyzer photographed the rituals and pastimes which would soon disappear. He returned in the 2000s to photograph inside Siberia's prison camps. 

In November, three decades after he first visited Russia, De Keyzer published a series of AI-generated images in a book called Putin’s Dream. This time there were no human bodies, no moments in time, instead a vision brought to life with the help of computers.

Within hours of posting online about Putin's Dream, De Keyzer was facing criticism for having produced fake images and possibly contributing to misinformation.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-26/ai-generated-images-photography-trust/104721106

GUS: AS WE HAVE DEMONSTRATED FOR YONKS, FAKE IMAGES, INCLUDING PHOTOGRAPHS (since the middle of the nineteenth century), HAVE BEEN AROUND US AS PART OF OUR CIVILISED INTERACTIONS SINCE TIME "IMMEMORIAL". NOTHING NEW. 

That these “NEW” images are created with an AI programme can make us trusty of “fake information”, but for the last 2,500 years at least we have bathed in the fake information of the Abrahamic legends. Many people still accept these as true representations of our human travails and many of our troubles come from conflicts in the interpretations of these fakeries. It’s Islam, Zion and Christianity that use either fake image or symbols to illustrate these legends. On top of this, since photography was invented, making “fake photos” has been rife, especially in war (WW1). The point here is to not be tricked by the “narrative” within. A cartoon is an obvious manipulation of what is, often closer to what the “official” picture is not telling us: the hand-shake HAS a devious intent. 

Nowadays, even cameras can “instantly” fix a photograph (on our phone would you believe) at the push of a button… one dude did not smile in the group picture, so we can pick another shot of the said dude smiling and combine it in 0.03 seconds to the preferred pic.

In the war of retouching we have exposed the trick of the fake — to the point that all PICTURES are representations of time, place and action that we CHOOSE to trust —or not.

So, what is the problem? That we don’t know when to trust reality and our representations (AI or human) of reality? Most people DO NOT ACCEPT REALITY. Many people prefer a legend like Christmas to give them a sense of purpose. My friend’s mother did not come to his “Christian” Christmas lunch because she’s Muslim… Eh…

GUSNOTE: THE PICTURE ABOVE HAS A VERY SIMPLE MANIPULATION: THE SAME PEOPLE APPEAR AT THE DOORS OF EACH CARRIAGE (Photo taken by Gus in Berlin)....

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

HYPOCRISY ISN’T ONE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS SINS.

HENCE ITS POPULARITY IN THE ABRAHAMIC TRADITIONS…

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME RUSSIA IF WW3 STARTS. BLAME YOURSELF.