Will AI Replace Photographers?

AI is all the rage at the moment. Lately the conversation has drifted towards whether it will spell the end of humanity, and whether we are inching ever closer to a Terminator-style world.

I don't have the intelligence or the foresight to really understand what AI means for humanity. And as someone who tries to live in the present, I try not to think about it too much.

However, there is one question that keeps popping up in my particular corner of the world.

"Will AI replace photographers?"

It's a question I have sat with. On a theory level, and on a much more practical level of how I can best adapt my skills to fit this new technology.

Right now, I don't think we will be replaced. What I do think is that AI will make us better photographers.

The camera in your pocket

The pictures I take on my R5 (pre-edit) look quite dull in most cases. Too dark. Too bright. The colours aren't popping. Compare that with a smartphone with AI built in and, straight out of the (phone) camera, those pictures do the job quite well.

And the world has noticed. According to Photutorial, around 94% of all photos taken in 2024 were taken on a smartphone. Dedicated cameras like mine made up less than 5%. That's out of roughly two trillion photos a year.

Yes, smartphones still have their limitations. But those gaps are closing day by day. Over the weekend I saw someone at the Bahrain Grand Prix, which this year was moved to Malaysia, where 'professional cameras' were banned. He had an Oppo phone. Just sitting in the stands, he walked away with some genuinely great footage.

That should scare me a little.

It does.

The uncomfortable bit

I'd be lying if I said this was all sunshine.

Earlier this year, the Association of Photographers in the UK surveyed its members. 58% said they had lost commissioned work to generative AI. Not to another photographer. To a prompt.

That number sits with me.

So I'm not going to pretend that nobody is being replaced. Some work is already going. The generic headshot. The stock image. The product on a white background. Maybe that work was always going to go to whatever was quickest and cheapest. Maybe that's a hard pill to swallow either way.

My super power

My super power is my edits. Even when I take a picture on my phone, I still run it through the Lightroom app to make it pop - and to put more of my signature on it.

But even this has become frictionless. Edits no longer need a dedicated app or a tool as powerful as Lightroom. And it isn't just the phone doing the heavy lifting. Aftershoot's 2025 industry report found that 90% of the photographers they surveyed now automate their post-processing in some way, and 81% of those using AI workflows said their work-life balance had improved.

That is the part of AI I can get behind. Less time hunched over sliders means more time doing the part of the job I actually love.

What AI can't do

AI can make a picture. It can't be in the room.

When I shoot everyday people pushing their own limits, the job isn't just the image. It's understanding that they have given their time to be there. It's making them feel seen and heard. It's the conversation before the shutter and the trust that comes after it.

Interestingly, the research seems to agree. A series of studies with nearly 3,000 people found that the exact same image was valued less when it was labelled as AI-made than when it was labelled as human-made - even when people admitted they couldn't tell the difference. Another study found people warmed to images more when they could build a story around them.

The story matters. The human matters.

I have always believed that if you capture what you love, those who love what you capture will find you. I don't think AI changes that. If anything, it makes it more true.

So, will AI replace photographers?

Some photographers, maybe. Some kinds of work, almost certainly.

But the photographer who shows up, who listens, who makes someone feel seen? I don't think a prompt can do that. Not yet anyway.

AI will make us better photographers. Faster. Sharper. Less chained to the editing desk. What it can't do is make us more present.

That part is still on us.

Ask me again in a year.