Episode 29: AI with Mark Heaps

With a handful of keyword prompts, anyone with access to the internet can now leverage Artificial Intelligence to generate realistic photographs, so have we just been replaced? Should you sell off your camera gear and leave creativity to the ‘bots? Not yet.

In this episode we get real with Mark Heaps, a photographer and designer on the cutting edge of AI. This conversation may comfort you or terrify you, but we can assure you that it will make you think.

Mason Marsh's avatar Mason Marsh on March 31, 2023

The future of photography has arrived—in the form of text! Now anyone with access to the internet can create eye-popping digital images with just a handful of keyword prompts into generative AI tools such as Adobe Firefly, Midjourney, and DALL-E. The onset of generative AI imaging has some people ringing alarm bells, but maybe just maybe these advances in computational photography are some of the best tools in our creative arsenals. We sat down with Mark Heaps, senior VP of brand and creative at Groq Inc., to toss cold water on the growing panic around generative AI and ponder the possibilities of AI as a creative toolset. We also talk about the oft-overlooked topic of powering all of the image processing, which is a massive undertaking. If you’ve been confused and concerned about the impact Artificial Intelligence is going to have on photography, this episode will Photocombobulate the subject for you.

 

Some Things Are Better Left Unseen

… but if you would like to see a video version of this podcast episode, we upload a lightly-edited version to our YouTube channel. Watch the video by clicking the thumbnail below.

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Published by Mason Marsh

Mason Marsh is a Portland, Oregon-based photographer and educator who specializes in not specializing. He's been a newspaper photojournalist, aerospace museum educator, tall ship captain, tour guide and chimney sweep. When he's not busy taking care of his kids Cooper and Claire, he works in The Arcanum, writes, and leads photo workshops. He is never bored.

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