What Happens When AI Judges Art—In Character?

I gave seven of my black-and-white darkroom prints to two photography critics… who don’t exist.

One is Eleanor—kind, experienced, and nurturing.
The other is Basil—opinionated, sarcastic, and mercilessly sharp.
Both were created with AI, right down to their names, voices, and portraits.
But their critiques? Surprisingly thoughtful. And surprisingly different.

In this experiment, I asked ChatGPT-4o to analyze my film photos through two carefully crafted personas. I also used AI to help generate photo titles before sending the prints off for feedback.

What followed was a fascinating—and occasionally hilarious—exercise in AI-assisted reflection.
Basil and Eleanor didn’t always agree, but they both saw things worth noticing. And their advice? I actually used it in the darkroom.

00:00 – Introduction
01:25 – The Photos: A Quick Tour
03:08 – Meet the Critics (They Don’t Exist)
04:26 – Creating the Titles with AI
05:51 – The Main Event: The Showdown
11:12 – Same Model, Different Minds
14:19 – How Can AI Even Do This?
15:21 – So… What Did I Think?

🛠️ AI Tools Used:
ChatGPT-4o (OpenAI): Image critique, voice personas, title generation
ElevenLabs: Voiceover for Eleanor and Basil
DALL·E: AI-generated portraits

📷 Photographed on film. Printed by hand. Then judged by machines pretending to be people.

#FilmPhotography #DarkroomPrinting #ChatGPT4o #AIArtCritique #PhotographyExperiment
#BlackAndWhitePhotography #ElevenLabs #AnalogPhotography #PhotoCritique #GenerativeAI
#AIvoices #MattedPrints #Pentax17 #IlfordHP5 #TMax100 #Rodinal #HC110 #BasilAndEleanor #AIvsHumanEye #PhotographyNerdsUnite