The year is 2046. There are now three kinds of photographs: those taken by light-based cameras, those generated or heavily modified by AI, and those carrying no provenance information at all, about which we can say nothing for sure. We have grown comfortable with the boundaries set by rules, regulations,Continue Reading
When a news image is modified via AI, everyone jumps in outrage, and it becomes an affair. If a picture of a (smiling) woman eating a fresh salad in her kitchen is AI-generated, no one really cares. In both cases, AI was used. Why is it that, in one case,Continue Reading
Since every company in the world communicates with visuals, this act affects everyone Two months out from application, Article 50 of the EU AI Act is generating more anxiety than clarity in the teams that produce and publish visual content. The date to remember is August 2, 2026. Systems placedContinue Reading
The current crop of AI image-authenticity tools tends to do one thing. You upload a photograph, the tool returns a number. 73% likely AI-generated. 0.21 confidence of manipulation. The number is supposed to settle the question. It doesn’t, of course, because the number is a statistical probability that the imageContinue Reading
Everyone in the visual content industry agrees, at least publicly, that authentic imagery should be worth more than AI-generated slop. Photographers say it. Agencies say it. Publishers say it. I’ve said it myself, many times, in this publication and elsewhere. Provenance matters. Trust matters. Reality matters. And yet, nothingContinue Reading
There is an assumption running through every conversation about AI and creative work. It goes like this: creativity is about the idea. The vision, the concept, the spark. Everything that follows, the execution, the craft, the labor of making, is downstream. Important, maybe, but secondary. The genius is in knowingContinue Reading
Fifteen months ago, right here in Kaptur, I asked a simple question: who actually needs a video generation tool? Not movie makers. Not documentarians. Not the millions of people who already have one of the most powerful video-creation instruments ever invented: a phone in their pocket. My argument was straightforward:Continue Reading
The AI product imagery industry has a favorite word: efficiency. Every pitch deck, every tool landing page, every case study opens with the same promise: faster, cheaper, more. Photoroom will generate your lifestyle shots in seconds. Pebblely will give you 40 background variations before lunch. Adcreative.ai will instantly turn simpleContinue Reading
On March 10, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to demand a new licensing framework for AI training. Across the Atlantic, private data brokers are raising tens of millions to license content directly. Both approaches claim to solve the same problem. Neither does. The Axel Voss resolution passed with 460 votesContinue Reading
The Getty–Shutterstock merger has a real competition problem. It also has no clean remedy. In June 2026, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority will render its final verdict on the Getty Images–Shutterstock merger. Based on everything that has emerged from the investigation, the most likely outcome is a yes, but.Continue Reading