Robert Irwin shares thoughts on how AI 'dilutes what is impressive'

Lots of people have been talking about the harm caused by artificial intelligence, and Robert Irwin has joined the conversation. In addition to being the son of the late conservationist Steve Irwin, Robert is a conservationist himself and also a wildlife photographer.

When speaking about AI, Robert addressed the environmental concerns. Many people have raised these concerns, and Robert feels this is a much larger conversation. Instead of getting into that, he chose to focus on the impact of AI from the perspective of a wildlife photographer.

Sadly, he thinks the existence of generative AI can make things in real life seem less “impressive” to people.

Now, when scrolling on social media, it can be hard to tell what’s real. Some things that look amazing to some people end up being fake. Robert, 22, thinks this issue is even deeper than that.

“As with any advancement in technology, I think we sometimes forget about the environmental destruction that it can cause,” he recently told Parade. “It’s a big conversation, but I can definitely speak through — pun intended — through the lens of photography. With AI, I think not only does it take away from the artistry of photography, but it also dilutes what is impressive.”

He explained exactly what he means by that.

Which is that actual, real wildlife is remarkable. But people can become sort of desensitized to that, given how often they see interesting things happening in AI-generated content.

He explained, “When you see the image of the, I don’t know, the eagle riding the elephant, or whatever ridiculousness it is that people genuinely think is real, when there is the actual, real amazing photo, it almost dilutes it because we’ve seen so many incredible things. We don’t realize what is real.”

Robert argued that the incredible things that are actually real are “more amazing,” but people might not always recognize that. “We’re all guilty of scrolling,” he added. “It is very hard to tell what is real and what is not.”

People loved the way he explained this.

The clip from Parade was shared on Reddit, where someone said, “‘dilutes what is impressive’ is such an (eerie) but accurate way to describe this.”

“He’s right and this is a really good way to describe it,” another person agreed. “It’s so depressing how we now find ourselves second guessing so many brilliant wildlife photos because of goddamn AI bullsh—ery.”

Sadly, a third commenter wrote that “wildlife photography has lost its appeal just because you’re always doubting if it’s real.”

Several comments also noted that they’ve seen the way this technology has impacted children specifically. “I will show my 7 year old photos or videos that I think are incredible, and her response is often ‘this is AI,'” one parent shared. “…It’s depressing that she already doubts anything that she sees if it’s something beautiful/ impressive/ unusual.”

Another person shared a similar experience they had with 6th graders when chaperoning a field trip to the zoo. “The group I was with would watch a grizzly three feet on the other side of plexiglass, swimming in a pond and shout: ‘So AI! Sooo AI!'” they recalled. “Something awe-inspiring is no longer awesome but more akin to something fake that it makes it hard to believe.”

A lot of people find this pretty scary, actually—and they’re glad that Robert is speaking up.

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