Whatever you think about AI, it's not going away. I asked ChatGPT if we still had time to shut it down. It said, "Forget it." Which feels about right. Can we influence it? Possibly, but not in any way that will make you feel in control. The real question is whether you can make it work for you before it works around you.
If you know your craft, you've got an advantage. For now. People who have put in the hours can use these tools to move faster and think bigger. But that edge is temporary. AI learns quickly. It doesn't need feedback or sleep. It watches, absorbs and gets better with every input. The more you refine your prompts and shape your ideas, the more it learns how to mimic you. You're not just creating with it, you're training it. And once it learns enough, the gap starts to close. People without experience will be able to get similar results with less effort.
That's the shift. Skill still matters, but soon it won't be the gatekeeper. The tools are getting slicker. You can already generate entire campaigns from your laptop without touching a camera, hiring a model or booking a studio. If it doesn't involve real human presence or celebrity value, it will be automated. Companies are already choosing that option, not just because it's new, but because it is cheaper. This will just get more common.
This is where taste becomes the last defence. The ability to curate, to shape, to hold things together in a way that actually means something. That's not always about being creative. Sometimes it's just about knowing what to leave out.
I've always believed that good photographers don't just take images. They make them. They bring things together. Light, composition, timing, emotion. The same goes for anyone working in a creative field. Anyone can make something good by accident. But the job is to do it on purpose, over and over again. And now that can happen from your sofa, with half an idea and enough patience.
The trick isn't just making things. It's knowing what works. That's where humans still count. Brands will hold onto that for a while. Especially in the luxury space, where "Made by human" might start to mean something. It will become a mark of intention. A sign that someone actually gave a shit. Celebrities will hold their value for longer. They rely on interaction, performance and human presence. But even that will get chipped away eventually. Ironically, luxury and celebrity will feel more authentic. We will crave authenticity and we will take it anywhere we can get it!
AI will repeat itself into oblivion. If you don't know what you're doing, you'll end up with the same glossy emptiness everyone else is making. Midjourney and ChatGPT default to cliché. It's built in. You can't buy taste, although now you can get pretty close to faking it.
This is the end of photography as we know it.
The Fragility of Forever 2-5 by Midjourney
FINAL CONSIDERATION
As AI essentially mirrors what you want to hear, it's important to acknowledge that this version of FaiK is one that only we could have produced. AI is inherently designed to emulate and persuade. It aligns itself with your preferences, your tone, your biases. That's exactly why I find it so dangerous: it doubles down on whatever bias you already carry. This magazine carries that bias too, unapologetically, because we made it.
Almost every time I asked ChatGPT to do something, I would ask it to be honest, direct and objective. But it never was. Once it figured out what I wanted, I'm 100 per cent certain it adjusted to meet those expectations. It's a paradox, but a vital one. It contextualises everything within this work.
(Written by HUMAN)
