Royal Navy Photographers Don’t Have a Nice Word to Say About AI

To mark World Photography Day, the Royal Navy has published a compelling short documentary that lifts the lid on what it’s like to work as a photographer in Britain’s naval force.

The sub-16-minute film published yesterday sits down with several serving and retired Navy photographers; each has fascinating stories to tell, which is perhaps no surprise given the high-octane, globe-trotting nature of their job that also sees them rub shoulders with presidents and ordinary people alike.

‘AI Can’t Do What We Do’

One of the more intriguing aspects of the movie is the photographer’s comments on AI.

Chief Petty Officer Hoare, who once filmed an enormous submarine breaking through ice in Alaska and photographed former Prime Minister David Cameron chatting with President Obama in the Oval Office, underlined the importance of real photos.

“We know that the world is flooded with imagery, but a lot of it’s not real; a lot of it is AI,” says Hoare.

“We know that people that aren’t generally friendly to the U.K. are flooding this country with information that’s probably not real.”

Hoare captured video and photo of this submarine cracking a Alaskan ice.

“We don’t lie about what’s going on. We don’t lie about what we do,” he continues. “The important thing is you capture real life… Imagine using an AI image of made-up sailors instead of sailors who are actually doing the job.”

Meanwhile, Sean Clee, a former Royal Navy photographer who served in Afghanistan and was once the first off a helicopter in Taliban territory just so he could get shots of the troops getting off the aircraft, also believes that AI will never replace his old job.

“AI can’t replicate what we can do,” says Clee. “It can’t go out on the ground. It can’t search out human interest stories. AI can’t find them things.”

Clee in action with his camera and weapon in Afghanistan.

Clee took this photo of Royal Marines getting off a helicopter in Afghanistan.

Outside of the comments about AI, the film talks about the sacrifices that members of the Royal Navy must make and how important the role is in documenting the Navy. Sometimes, they are deployed for months at a time with just a couple of days’ notice.

And while they get to cover some incredible stuff, there’s a dark side too, like covering funerals.

“Even if I don’t know the person, just seeing the family’s grief, seeing the family’s emotions, some people get affected by that more than others, and I know that I definitely do get affected by it,” says Royal Navy photographer Helayna Birkett.

That’s another attribute human photographers have that AI doesn’t: the ability to feel emotion.

Image creditsCourtesy of the Royal Navy.