Without being prompted, would you be able to instantly tell the image on the right is an AI fake? On the left is a Beautiful Demoiselle insect photographed by Sebastian Hennigs. On the right is an AI-generated motif made to look like the same insect. The AI image on the right is incorrect, as insects only have six legs. The insect wings are also incorrectly depicted. The blue-winged damselfly also has very short antennae in reality, which the AI also gets wrong. — Photo: S. Hennigs/M. Neumann/Heinz Sielmann Stiftung/dpa
BERLIN: Wild animals rarely stay still for a decent photo. This makes professional nature photography time-consuming and expensive.
So it may seem like a relief that artificial intelligence can now generate quick and cheap images of birds, insects and other species that are difficult to photograph.
However, experts warn that such AI-generated images pose a broader risk to the field of biology by creating unrealistic images of nature that are anything but scientifically accurate.
"Many AI images appear deceptively real. In reality, however, these images often have little to do with the truth," warns Hannes Petrischak of Germany's Heinz Sielmann Foundation, which focuses on species conservation and education.
AI-generated animal images often lack key species-specific features, according to the foundation. For example, the number and positioning of legs or the colour patterns of skin and fur are sometimes incorrect.
Body proportions are also often inaccurate. AI tends to idealise and overly "cute-ify" animals, frequently depicting larger eyes and heads as well as unnaturally clean wild animals.
Mistakes in AI images are usually easy for experts to spot. However, laypeople often fail to recognise that the depictions are inaccurate and believe the images to be real.
The foundation is warning that uncritical use of AI animal images could lead to greater ignorance about nature. "Given the already significantly declining general knowledge of natural history among the population and the dramatic loss of species, this development is highly problematic," the foundation says in a press statement.
The foundation and other experts have called for AI images to be clearly and easily labelled. Artificial images should be thoroughly reviewed by experts and their use critically questioned.
Anyone seeking to educate about nature and scientific content should, according to the Heinz Sielmann Foundation, avoid using AI-generated animal images and instead rely on the work of professional nature photographers. – dpa
