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On July 14, the Inner Mongolia Hohhot City Federation of Literary and Art Circles issued an official notice confirming that the first prize winning work "Sail in the Garden" from the third session of the 2025 Hohhot City Citizens' Photography Bi-monthly Competition, titled "Artistic Rhythms of the Northern Borders · Light and Shadow of Qingcheng," was indeed AI-generated and not a genuine original photograph taken by the author.
The official announcement immediately canceled the work's eligibility for online and offline participation, evaluation, and exhibition, revoked all related competition recognitions, and formally suspended the photography bi-monthly competition. It also initiated a comprehensive rectification and dealt with the relevant responsible persons according to regulations.
This incident originated from recent public doubts raised by netizens. The session was organized by the Hohhot City Federation of Literature and Art and hosted by the City Photographers' Association, with the theme "Fun and Chance." In the end, one first prize, two second prizes, three third prizes, and ten excellent awards were selected. However, the first prize-winning work showed AI-generated common issues such as random code text and "QR code" marks on the cleaner's clothes, and the facial shape and hairstyle were highly similar. Additionally, the distortion of the water pot and the direction of the water flow violated physical common sense.
This incident reflects the significant compliance and review challenges that AIGC (generative artificial intelligence) technology poses to traditional image art competitions. With the rapid improvement of the realism of AI-generated images, discussions within the industry about digital forgery and the boundaries of documentary photography have become increasingly intense.
The official strict handling and suspension of the competition reflect the serious attitude of mainstream art institutions in maintaining the fairness of competitions. It also indicates that future traditional art competitions urgently need to introduce more professional technical detection methods and stricter originality review mechanisms to cope with the new changes brought by the popularization of AI technology.