AI is hurting your legacy

AI is here regardless of your opinions on it. In full transparency, there are times we use AI. We ask it questions, we have it run calculations for us and it is a good starting point when thinking up new ideas. There are a lot of downsides of AI as well. The data facilities are eating at our natural resources, the price of consumer goods are going up dramatically as these data centers purchase all our RAM and storage options, but it is also hurting our legacy.

We were the photographers for someone who recently passed away far too soon. Candice Taravella was our daughter’s teacher in elementary school. Since that time, we were the photographer’s the Candice chose to capture her family memories. We watched her children grow up. We watched Candice fall in love with her soul mate. We watched Candice lose her soulmate to a tragic illness. We watched as Candice got cancer. We photographed Candice winning teacher of the year. We captured some of the last photos of Candice before her far too soon passing.

After Candice’s passing a scholarship was set up in honor of her memory. The school that she once worked for and where she received teacher of the year posted regarding her scholarship. They created the poster of the scholarship using…..AI. After first glance everything was great until you saw the image. AI had completely changed the image of Candice. It wasn’t even a photo of her anymore. This stayed up for almost 1 week before we saw it.

We immediately contacted the school and they were very understanding. The correct image is now being replaced and corrected on social media. In all actually there was very little harm but it is such a great lesson on the downsides of AI. It is also a very real downside of AI in our public education system. In a place that fosters independent thinking, creative endeavors and educating the future leaders of tomorrow, what does it say when the administration uses AI to create something that alters a persons physical look?

Were the intentions bad? No. It was most likely someone who needed a quick poster, wanted to educate the community on a scholarship and do some good. I don’t believe that the intentions were ever bad.

Since the email was sent, we received a phone call and they were completely sorry for what had happened and corrected it immediately which is all we could have asked for. It helped raise awareness of AI usage in public schools and that even administrators make mistakes.

Before you consider using AI or if you think that AI giving your photo a quick touch up is right for you, just ask yourself, “What do I want my legacy to be?”. Do you want it to be something that shows you in your truest self or do you want it to be something a computer decided you should look like? Only you can answer that.

Because we are a photography company, and a blog wouldn’t be blog from us without some photos, where are the two photos.

First image - Real Photo
Second Image - AI Generated

Candice, you will forever be missed. Thank you for your contribution to our daughter’s growth and development. Thank you for all that you did for future generations. We miss you dearly and hope that you and Brandon reunited. You will be forever loved.