The Tamesis
As artificial intelligence permeates their practices, creative industry professionals are forced to take a stand, develop policies and navigate new client expectations. “You’re going to see divisions in the market,” she said. “Some say it’s all about cost, some say it’s all about human creativity.”
Changing expectations
In the middle of it all are the agents who represent photographers, who must strike a fine balance between meeting the needs of their business clients and representing the interests of the photographer. While work is still in progress, one of the first challenges agencies have encountered with photography commissions since AI entered the market is the way it has changed client expectations. Agents are receiving highly specific AI-generated models (called “scamps”), which not only leaves less room for artists to create but also raises expectations of what’s possible.
“Right now, the most common way AI manifests itself for us is through internal use from clients; things like previews, briefings, creative mockups and storyboards that we’re exposed to when a project comes in,” said agent Hati Gould of East Photographic. “The models customers present are often very close to the end result they want.”
AI models are hyper-specific and hyper-realistic in a way that sketches and mood boards never were, so clients arrive with a fixed vision rather than direction. They are usually signed internally, locking in expectations. And because they look like finished images rather than rough concepts, the gap between the outline and what’s actually possible is harder to explain.
Laura Dawes, director of Weber, an international agency representing photographers, directors, stylists and set designers, said one client’s AI model would have been impossible to produce under filming conditions. In response, Dawes said Weber had updated the terms of his contract to reflect the new situation: “Any type of fraud [mock-ups]pre-production briefs or approvals for the use of AI must be signed off or approved by us to ensure they can deliver what the client has requested. “
Post-production in a post-AI world
Elsewhere, AI is showing up in new scenes in post-production. Charlotte Long, director of photography at Academy Films, describes a fashion shoot in which a photographer shot stills for a client, but those images had become dynamic assets when the brand shared them on social media. “It was shocking at first,” she says, “but also really interesting. It’s honestly really impressive what they did.” However, taking this usage into account early in your work may yield different creative results. “If the photographer knew they were going to post a video, they might light it differently,” she adds.
Some clients have explored campaigns entirely generated by AI, and Long has found that working from a photographer’s original image—even if AI is used somewhere in the production process—is cleaner, both logistically and legally. There is a raw file available for editing and the photographer owns the IP. “It’s much easier to navigate usage if the photographer already has the rights,” she said. However, when real people and models are involved, use becomes trickier when negotiating terms for AI use that “some modeling agencies also disagree with.”
Meanwhile, some photographers and agents are trying to protect their work from being fed into artificial intelligence once it leaves their hands. Contracts are being adapted to control this use, and while it’s difficult to monitor, emerging services like Glaze and Nightshade claim to help protect creative works by influencing how they are read by AI services.
