The Chamonix-Mont-Blanc valley has chosen to ride the artificial intelligence trend for its advertising for winter 2023-2024. Except that the result is a bad buzz around a half-human, half-AI poster, one could say, which appeared everywhere in France and on social networks.
The communications teams in the Chamonix-Mont-Blanc valley hit the nail on the head… or not, if we are to believe some Internet users. The destination wanted, for this winter season, “ reconnect with nature » its customers, using a technology that was all the rage this year: artificial intelligence. Adopted to send a message about the fragility of our biodiversity via its graphic creation, its use seems to have been poorly understood by part of the public, and in particular certain photographers and nature lovers. You will understand why.
Chamonix returns (despite itself) the idea that its advertisements are entirely the work of AI
At the origin of the controversy, we find a series of posters, rather successful, distributed physically in transport in particular but also on the Internet. The communications team of the Chamonix-Mont-Blanc tourist office decided to integrate artificial intelligence into the creative process, based in particular on ChatGPT, “ the twelfth man ”, as she calls it, in sporting reference for “ challenger » the team on the perception it had of its own territory.
The visuals broadcast each bear the mention “ image generated by AI, enhanced by humans » which does not go down at all with the spectators, in that it gives the impression that everything is done artificially on the latter. Which is not entirely the case. The formula remains, we grant you, quite clumsy.
In the background of each of the visuals, we find a real image of the valley. “ We respect (and defend) the work of photographers: all “background” images are real photos in order to give credibility to our promise about the beauty of our landscapes (and which will never artificially achieve the emotion aroused). » In other words, the background photos all come from photographers as human as you and me. But the controversy does not end there.
Humans and wildlife side by side thanks to artificial intelligence
On the four posters, we find women, men and/or children alongside a family of foxes, an ibex, a chamois and a deer, with a proximity that seems very improbable, and which is obviously here visually intended to bring man closer to the wild fauna, sometimes threatened, which we encounter during our walks on skis or snowshoes.
These human-animal duos were generated by artificial intelligence, so that everyone was “ guardians and witnesses of fragile beauty and their living space », justifies the communications team. She also judges the visual work of the AI “ still perfectible » and called on an artistic director, once again very human, to enhance everything.
In the midst of a debate around artificial intelligence, the potential disappearance of certain professions in the years to come and the sometimes complex differentiation between real and false content generated by AI, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc wanted to take the risk. The time saved on the one hand, thanks to AI, made it possible to spend a little more time on more artistic aspects. “ A work that takes on its full meaning today in our desire to raise awareness about the biodiversity of our territory », Explains the tourist office. The message is not without meaning.
Source : Chamonix.com
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