With AI entering our realities at breakneck speed, the conversations I’ve been having recently usually end with “a machine can’t do what I can do”. Well, that got me to thinking. I believe we are about to embark on a seismic technological shift we haven’t seen since we flipped on all that steam powered machinery and began making things easier and quicker.

Are the days numbered for photographers? Will we still be shooting events or studio sessions in 20 years or be resigned to the dustbin of history just like lamplighters and elevator operators? It’s a compelling concept and one that deserves to be in this blog because I said so. Also, I didn’t have any other ideas this week so here we are.

First, the technology of photography (like most other advancements) has come a long way in a very short time. Consider that the first, modern, sustained and powered flight by the Wright Brothers happened in 1903. Less than 60 years later, Yuri Gagarin was the first person to travel to and back from space. Now, in just over a century since that first airplane, SpaceX has used AI to recall rockets back to the launch pad they had just recently left.

Now, look at photography. The first modern photograph was taken in about 1826. 60 years after that, the 1886 Novelette Triplex Camera allowed people to leave the studio and enable people to embark on street photography as well as shoot in either portrait or landscape formats. Fast forward to 2025, and here we are with a camera in every pocket and AI controlling every step of the process. Everything from exposure to ISO to shutter speed has been incorporated and automated. And those filters you love? AI processing. Hell, even a professional tool like Photoshop has god-like powers over the image you want to manipulate.

Now, I think there is a bigger conversation to be had about the ethics of using AI in creative fields but let’s go one step further. What happens when robots appear on the scene? Sounds like science fiction but this revolution is much, much closer than we all think. In regards to photography, people could be sitting at weddings 20 years from now saying, “remember when people hired poor photographers to run around for 12 hours lugging gear and making themselves insane trying to complete a same edit so we could all watch it at dinner?”. Robots with advanced AI would be capable of shooting stills and video simultaneously in 360 degrees as well as edit that video. As long as there is a PowerWall and a network connection, venues won’t even need a vendor table.

It’s certainly a dystopian view of the future but sadly, one that may happen in our lifetime. On the brighter side, humans will never be able to give up the need for creative expression, so, photography will always have a purpose in our lives. The million dollar question though is will photography have a need for humans?

Photo taken at The Canadian International Autoshow in Toronto, Ontario.