“Will AI kill the photography business?”

To some degree, yes, it will flog the most pedestrian, repetitive, work. Stock imagery will die, but it’s not like anyone other than TMZ paparazzi were profiting off of that anyway.

To some other degree, it will enhance it. Breathe new life into it my changing the paradigm, much like how synthesizers and ProTools didn’t kill records or live music. Making more artistic forms of expression more accessible is not mutually exclusive with allowing more deliberate art to exist, and often invites more people to the table for pushing the boundaries further.

I like to use Ransom+Mitchell as an example. There’s a lot of CGI involved but no AI, and a whole heck of a lot of studio shoots with vibrant (real) scenery, props, and creative composite CGI. Their work has a completely different level of energy to it than standard realistic shoots, but is no way fake, generative, or effortless. Every single portrait they produce is worthy of hanging in an art gallery and anyone could AI-themselves-into-oblivion without being able to capture that same level of expression and execution.

20 years from now? Could be a different story, but that’s someone else’s problem and like vinyl records, live photos and reality may momentarily fall out of style just before trends pendulum back toward authenticity being the most desirable trait in works.