The Synthetic Eye

Photography Transformed in the Age of AI

$39.99

This book is not yet published, but will be available from February 2025.

ISBN: 9780500297391 Category:

Fred Ritchin

Description

An essential investigation into the murky ethics of AI, one that calls into question the future of photography.

Artificial Intelligence is driving a fourth industrial revolution and, as The Synthetic Eye shows, the centre will not hold.

How can we believe or trust the images we are being shown? What role do photographers, the media and technology companies have in upholding the authenticity of photographs? Can synthetic imagery be utilized to enhance our understanding of our world?

A revelatory roadmap of today’s image universe, The Synthetic Eye explores how Artificial Intelligence has fundamentally transformed our sense of the real, the possible and the actual. Arranged into seven distinct chapters, it interrogates AI’s engagement with history, how it has changed our understanding of reality, and the positive opportunities and dystopian scenarios that lurk beneath the surface of artificially generated images.

Additional information

Weight 300 g
Dimensions 15.2 x 22.9 cm
Publisher name Thames and Hudson Ltd
Publication date 27 February 2025
Number of pages 224
Format Paperback / softback
Dimensions 15.2 x 22.9 cm
Weight 300 g
Fred Ritchin is a writer, educator and photography critic. Currently the Dean Emeritus of the International Center of Photography (ICP) School, Ritchin was also the founding director of the Documentary Photography and Photojournalism Program at the School of ICP. Prior to joining ICP, Ritchin was professor of photography and imaging at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and co-director of the NYU/Magnum Foundation Photography and Human Rights educational program. He has worked as the picture editor of The New York Times Magazine (1978-1982) and executive editor of Camera Arts magazine (1982-1983). Ritchin's previous publications include Bending The Frame: Photojournalism, Documentary and the Citizen and After Photography.