September 1, 2022
When an AI Picture Won an Art Prize
In 2022 a work made with the AI tool Midjourney won a Colorado art competition — sparking a fierce debate about creativity in the age of machines.
In summer 2022, a lush, golden image titled 'Théâtre D'opéra Spatial' won first prize in the digital category at the Colorado State Fair. Its creator, Jason Allen, had generated it using the AI tool Midjourney.
The win detonated a furious online row. Was it art? Was it cheating? Could a prompt typed into a machine really compete with hours at the easel? Artists feared for their livelihoods; others saw a thrilling new tool.
It was an early flashpoint in the AI image revolution that swept 2022 and 2023 — and the questions it raised about authorship, originality and labour are still far from settled.
Image: “Artificial General Intelligence Illustration” — David S. Soriano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.