The Washington PostThe Washington Post

He used AI to win a fine-arts competition. Was it cheating?

By Drew Harwell

03 Sep 2022 · 9 min read

Is AI generated art, well, art? The Washington Post tells the story of one artist getting an award for an artwork that some say isn’t really an artwork.

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When Jason Allen submitted his "Théâtre D'opéra Spatial" into the Colorado State Fair's fine-arts competition last week, the sumptuous print was an immediate hit, beating 20 other artists in the "digitally manipulated photography" category to win the first-place blue ribbon and a $300 prize.

What Allen had only hinted at, however, was that the artwork had been created in large part by an artificial-intelligence tool, Midjourney, that can generate realistic images at a user's command. The portrait of three figures, dressed in flowing robes, staring out to a bright beyond, was so finely detailed the judges couldn't tell.

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