There was a collective gasp across the art world last month when Boris Eldagsen refused a prestigious art prize, revealing that the image he'd submitted was generated by artificial intelligence.
The Berlin-based artist was awarded the top gong in the Sony World Photography Awards for a haunting black and white image entitled The Electrician, part of his Pseudomnesia series.
Reminiscent of a 1940s family portrait, it shows two women who appear to be from different generations.
When he handed back the prize at the London award ceremony in April, he said: "Thank you for selecting my image and making this a historic moment, as it is the first AI-generated image to win in a prestigious international photography competition."
Later he told ABC RN's Breakfast: "It was a test to see if photo competitions are prepared for [AI] … They are not."
He maintains he hadn't intended to deceive the judges. Instead, he wanted to start a conversation about where AI art fits in the photography world.
He believes it should sit on the outside.
"I think its wrong to say it's AI photography … I think we need a new term for it."
Later, among the lively online debate kicked off by Eldagsen's bold move, Peruvian artist Christian Vinces came up with just such a term: promptography.
Promptography vs photography?
The way Eldagsen describes it, images created by promptography are very different to those created by photography
"I love photography, I love generating images with AI, but I've realised, they're not the same. One is writing with light, one is writing with prompts. They are connected, the visual language was learned from photography, but now AI has a life of its own," he told the Guardian.
He generates his AI images by feeding multiple text prompts into an AI photo generator program, describing up to 11 elements within the frame of the picture, the scene, the lighting, the composition and the colours.
"If you really describe everything you want to have using your photographic skills, using your art history knowledge, then it becomes something like a recipe."
Eldagsen keeps this "recipe" close to his chest, refusing to reveal the exact prompts he fed the program to generate The Electrician image. But he uses these prompts in a similar way to how a painter uses paints and a brush.
He claims recent high-profile artworks have given AI creations a poor reputation.
"The critics of AI-generated images say it's not hard [to create these images]. And that's true if you just type in 'Trump gets arrested'," he says.
He's referring to the string of fake, hyper realistic images of the former President surrounded by police officers, which were generated and circulated before Trump's recent arraignment in Manhattan
But is it art?
San Diego-based photography curator Deborah Klochko, who judged the World Photography Awards last year, says Eldagsen's work is art and those who question its artistic merit are afraid of change.
"When photography was invented in 1839 … people thought from this day forward [that] painting is dead.
"And it's not that long ago that I would have people say, well, would you show digital photography? Absolutely. It's a tool," she says.
Klochko goes even further than Eldagsen – she questions not just the terminology, but also why the new medium doesn't fit under the photography umbrella.
"The definition of photography is radically changing and it's been changing since the moment it was first invented."
She might have a point.
From pinhole-photography to digital and mobile-camera work, the fact that so many people now use their phones to take photos arguably supports the notion that photography evolves.
Even the very translation of the word photography from its Greek roots – "drawing with light" – could describe what Eldagsen is doing.
Defenders of traditional photography argue a picture reflects what is real, but Klochko questions if that was ever the case.
"Photography from the beginning has appeared truthful. But it isn't. It's capturing a moment in time that no longer exists.
"It also depends on whoever is holding the camera or pointing the camera and their point of view," she says.
Who owns promptographs?
While the terminology is far from settled, so too is the matter of ownership.
The programs used to create the work scrape image data from the open web and pilfer from works owned by other artists.
It has become such a concern that developers have created an online tool for artists to check if their work is being used to train AI image generators.
It raises the question of who actually owns the image Eldagsen made because it might not be him.
Legal systems have long posited that authors of an artwork must be human to claim legal protection.
So, is Eldagsen the author? Or is he merely the editor-cum-publisher?
Eldagsen says he has already been contacted by an American lawyer looking into AI art copyright, who offered to pursue ownership of his piece pro bono. But it wasn't for him.
"I declined. I said, 'This is not why I did the whole refusal of the Sony award'… I have a different cause."
Is the photography world embracing AI imagery?
Eldagsen's World Photography Awards experience suggests the art world might not be ready to accept AI imagery.
He says while at first, he chose not to explain how the image had been made, he had submitted information about his background as an artist who uses artificial intelligence.
He says the category's description was broad and allowed for any device to be used.
"I thought, well, let's be cheeky and try it out."
After he won, Eldagsen insisted organisers have a public conversation about the piece and its AI genesis. He says the organisers failed to follow through on his suggestion of an online discussion to explain the artwork.
But the World Photography Organisation hit back at this.
In a statement, a spokesperson said: "We no longer feel we are able to engage in a meaningful and constructive dialogue with [Eldagsen]."
Yet while Eldagsen and the competition organisers have quarrelled over the submission, other institutions are embracing the medium.
New York's influential gallery Gagosian is currently exhibiting the AI artworks of Oscar-nominated director Bennett Miller who, in the process of making a documentary about AI, also created and submitted pieces to be shown in the famous space.
And art curator Deborah Klochko is watching with anticipation.
She says she would exhibit AI works alongside traditional photography, but acknowledges the need for explanation.
"I would certainly have a conversation about what it means and how we need to think about it.
"You don't want to censor. Demonising or censoring is not the road to understanding."
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