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Hi Nicolas,
that’s some good questions and I highly value that you’d bring them in to this club!
1) To me the magic term is not “AI”, but “generative”.
Whereas an AI masking tool, or an AI stamp tool simplifies our lives as (UW-)Photographers WITHOUT sneaking into a creative process of going after a vision for a shot, the “generative” aspect is the one where we hand the control of an outcome over to an AI.
Short: I differ between AI that supports a process and AI that creates sth new/”own”.
This said, I would love to have more comps open for the use of AI tools, wheres generative AI is a clear no-go.
2) On baited dives (and photos) I’m not as clear.
I value baited shark dives for people and especially newbies to overcome their fears in a scenario that they could prepare for. I think both, sharks and humans win on this.
Also, we all know there are some really good examples were baited dives helped to establish a strong population, creates (more sustainable) jobs, and even MPA’s.
On the other hand there is the impact on the natural world, on aggregations, on safety, the abuse of this great gift by humans, and so on.
Really, hard to say. But still, depending on the competition and its aim I think that there are great shots out there taken on baited dives that could speak to and attract “no-water-babies” out there and do a good job for a species or an eco-system.
This said, I’m over and out for now.
Cheers,
Robin