Miles Astray, a versatile artist who documents his travels through writing and photography, made an intriguing decision when he received an invitation to participate in the artificial intelligence category of the 1839 Awards photography competition. Astray had noticed instances where AI-generated artworks were submitted to traditional photography competitions, including an AI photo that won the creative category at The Sony World Photo Awards the year prior. This prompted Astray to adopt a unique approach and enter a genuine photograph into an AI competition. When speaking with CBS News, Astray shared his thoughts, saying, "I thought, why not turn this story around and enter a real photo into an AI competition?" The photograph in question, titled "F L A M I N G O N E, " was taken by Miles Astray during a trip to Aruba in 2022. It captures a mesmerizing scene of a flamingo engaging in a belly scratch, creating an illusion of being almost headless. This captivating image surpassed actual AI creations, winning both third place and the People's Vote Award in the AI category. According to Lily Fierman, director and co-founder of Creative Resource Collective, which hosts the 1839 Awards, the striking nature of Astray's image made it feel as though it was produced by AI. Fierman emphasized the impact of AI on our perception of imagery and the expectations associated with it. AI art is typically generated through software that interprets textual descriptions or prompts provided by users. Drawing from extensive reference image databases, the software meticulously constructs digital images pixel by pixel. While these AI-generated creations are becoming increasingly realistic, they often exhibit a subtle "uncanny valley" quality, failing to fully convince the human eye. Astray wanted to highlight the presence of human emotion and quality within his photograph, which AI cannot replicate.

Astray stated, "I wanted to show that there is a human and emotional quality here that AI cannot generate. The fact that this picture in the end was chosen not only by the jury, but also by public vote, proved that point, and I'm very happy about that. " Upon learning of his win on June 11, Astray promptly informed the contest organizers that his submission was an authentic photograph. Consequently, he was disqualified from the competition. Nonetheless, the judges and contest organizers expressed their appreciation for Astray's message. Fierman admitted, "We never expected somebody to try to enter a non-AI image into AI. I think the assumption is it's always the other way around. " She acknowledged that anyone could be deceived by such occurrences. Crucially, Fierman emphasized their agreement with Astray's statement, stating, "In him winning and this happening kind of organically, it gives a message of hope to everyone that nature and the photographer have key places in our world and that just isn't something that computers or AI can replicate. " In response to this incident, the contest organizers added a note specifying that only images created by AI are eligible for submission in the AI category. Undeterred by his disqualification, Astray recognizes that a time may come when AI-generated art becomes indistinguishable from real photographs. He remarked, "It has gotten to the point where there are some pictures that are just like, indistinguishable from a real photograph. So that technology is there, and that's not going to go away. " However, he remains optimistic about the future of artists in the AI era, asserting that "real photographers and other content creators will always have a place. "