The greatest threat to photographers
There is a 17.5-20% chance of humans going extinct in the next 100 years.
You might think it's because of a nuclear war - which can be the case.
But the chances for that are low - around 1/10,000 - according to Tony Ord, a philosopher & the author of The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity.
(This means going totally extinct, that we can't recover from the damage.)
But there is something that has a chance of 1/10 to make us go extinct.
This might surprise you a bit.
It's Unaligned Artificial Intelligence.
I knew AI could be dangerous for human existence. But not that it's 1000x more dangerous than a nuclear war!
In this Letter, I'll not dive deep into how to prevent that from happening. (Not that I know the answers to it, lol.)
But I'll cover what photographers can do to be able to thrive.
Many commercial photographers will be straight up f*cked because of AI.
And it'll affect all photographers as a whole.
AI will change everything. You want to be prepared.
After this letter, you'll know how to not end up jobless so easily as AI gains more power.
The dangers of AI
Commercial photographers won't go extinct, entirely, in my eyes.
But AI is a threat to them.
And it will wipe out commercial photographers.
I'd argue, that it will wipe out most of them.
By this, I don't mean they'll die.
I mean they'll end up with no job.
You might think this is in 10 years time.
But I'd argue, we could be a few years away.
You might have heard of AI Photography or postphotography.
If you haven't, well now you have, haha.
Basically, a photographer uses AI in the mix to make the final photograph.
Is that photography?
This is highly debated.
I don't have an opinion as I've not thought about it enough.
Whether is it or not, it'll be something that will change everything.
Why?
Because using AI to make photos for clients is cheaper.
Imagine this:
Nike has a new shoe release.
Normally, a photographer would need that shoe and a ton of different models.
And to be in different environments.
That's costly.
Now, a photographer can take a single photo of a shoe, and then "teleport" it to any environment!
(Here you could already use this as an advantage. Click here to see an example.)
And the photographer can utilize all the footage they've taken in past to craft a model.
I've already seen AI-made characters in ads.
An AI-made character in Ito En Ltd.'s green tea ad
I've already seen AI art in movies instead of hiring artists.
AI art in Marvel's Secret Invasion
I've seen portrait shoots done with the help of AI - like here by Antti Karppinen.
And we will see more of this.
And we will see more and more photographers lose their jobs because of this.
Because many aren't willing to do this 1 thing...
Take advantage of AI
If you don't use it, you might very well be jobless.
And I mean that for all photographers who rely on clients.
I'm not saying you need to become an AI artist.
I'm saying you need to find some ways to take advantage of AI to keep thriving.
Let me explain.
I already talked through a product shoot.
A photographer who can produce photos for:
1) Cheaper
2) Better and
3) Faster
is going to get the job, right?
You could argue you can be better than a photographer who uses AI. And you might be correct, for the time being.
But as it gets better, how are you supposed to compete with a photographer who has access to an intelligence that has access to an insane amount of data of photos? And thus knows close to all possible compositions, colour techniques and so on.
Will event photographers be more safe?
I would say yes - because this is something one needs to document. Every event is different.
But, using AI in some parts of a process will become necessary.
It could be in sorting the images, editing a part of them... something.
I use AI to get rid of the Noise in my shots - and to sharpen them further (if needed).
(I use Lightroom DeNoise and Topaz Labs.)
What about nature and travel photographers?
I would say we'll get affected too.
It'll be interesting to see how much.
Let's say a tourism board is planning their next marketing campaign.
What if they used photos made with AI to promote their destination?
I bet there'd be an outrage.
(Unless the AI is only used for generating a model or something like that.)
When it comes to landscape photography, I see us getting affected too.
Because landscapes don't often change a lot, depending on the scene.
Sure, the tourism boards most likely will continue wanting photos.
But what about other companies?
I see many rather using AI to get some photos at a fraction of the price.
Sure, there will be those brands who promote "being real" by having real photos instead of AI.
But I bet 99.99% of companies rather use AI.
And most people, frankly, don't care whether a photo is made with the help of AI - or not. (Depending on the context, of course.)
This is why I don't build towards working with clients.
Because I see the demand just going downhill.
That's why I teach online instead.
That's why I'm building a personal brand.
Nobody can be me. Not even AI.
(Sure, the AI can steal my face and voice, lol! But overall, there's just 1 me.)
And! Some clients could want only your photos because of who you are as a person!
This has happened to me.
In 2022, there was a big article about me and NFTs published in the local Newspaper.
In it, the journalist wrote a lot about my past about being bullied.
That's when a nationwide organization spotted me - and my story.
Many dream of working with them.
They reached out to me about taking portrait photos.
Yes, portraits.
Are there people who are better than me at that?
For sure, lol.
I am not a portrait photographer.
But they wanted to work with me because they knew my story.
Because of who I was.
I immediately stood out as the photographer to go with.
THIS is the power of a personal brand - the power of showing your personality and story.
A personal brand will give your work new meaning.
A personal brand will give you new opportunities.
A personal brand can't be replaced with AI.
If you're interested in building a future-proof personal brand, I have something exciting for you.
I'm hosting Social Media for Photographers where I teach you what has taken my personal brand to over 150,000+ followers.
After that, you'll be able to start building on social media, the correct way.
After that, you're much less likely to lose your income to AI. And you'll be able to sell products and services more easily.
Click here to join the Waitlist. There will be limited spots.
Thriving with AI
If you don't want to build a personal brand, fine - although I see it as the biggest opportunity out there now.
Just make sure you're thinking from the perspective of the clients.
Ask yourself how could you use AI to your advantage.
How can you fasten your workflow with it?
Or how else could you stand out when AI gains more power?
I believe having great connections will take you far.
But if someone is much better and cheaper by using AI - connections might not be enough.
Think about how can you deliver a better experience and result for the client.
To compete with others, you'll most likely need AI usage for this.
What about hobbyists?
Hobbyists - I don't think you'll be greatly affected.
Sure, people will be more hesitant to believe is something real or not.
And soon, it'll be impossible to know what is real and what's not.
Unless you share behind-the-scenes of a photoshoot to prove it. (Although, in the future, I guess that can be done with AI too.)
But it'll not affect you financially. But if you want to show it's a real photograph, you might need to showcase your process a bit more.
Last words + how I use AI
I'm curious about how AI will affect everything.
I see it taking most of the jobs away - which can be good.
We humans would have more time to do things we actually like.
But then, we'd need a universal basic income that people can feed themselves and their families.
And even then, those who have jobs will have the most opportunities to experience beautiful things.
(Money will continue giving opportunities and access to more experiences.)
I'd recommend to NOT ignore AI.
It has a lot of potential use cases.
I use it in:
video editing (Gling AI - affiliate link)
brainstorming (Chat GPT)
cleaning up some text (Chat GPT)
And to remove the noise in my photos + sharpen them when necessary. (Lightroom DeNoise & TopazAI)
If you don't use AI at all, you'll stay behind.
In what way to use AI, is your choice.
But you gotta take advantage of it if you don't want to get defeated by it.
I hope you found this Letter interesting.
If you did, feel free to share it with a friend.
If you were forwarded, you can subscribe here.
Here's still the link to join the waitlist for Social Media for Photographers.
Till next Saturday my friends,
Hugo
P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are 3 other ways I can help you:
#1: Ready to crush it on social media in 2024? Want my personalized help instead of cohort? Click here to apply to my 1-1 Social Media Coaching Program.
#2: Have you seen my YouTube channel? I'm putting stuff out there too. I bet you'd find it valuable. Check out my latest videos and come give me a like and subscribe. :)
#3: I have a lot of free resources out there. Read the past Letters here.
