Suzi Dougherty’s photo of her son Caspar was rejected by a photography competition who thought it was AI

A genuine picture taken on an iPhone was thrown out of a photography competition after judges suspected it was generated by artificial intelligence.

Suzi Dougherty’s photograph of her 18-year-old son Caspar was deemed ‘suspicious’ by judges despite the mum insisting it was taken on her mobile phone.

The picture was taken at a Sydney Powerhouse Museum exhibition, with her son dressed in the same color of the bathroom of the installation and mimicking the stance of the mannequins.

Ms Dougherty told Daily Mail Australia she photographed her son Caspar next to two mannequins at the Gucci exhibition.

‘We really liked the picture and so we printed it for my mum who loves Gucci but couldn’t go as she was sick and she told me I should enter it in this competition,’ Ms Dougherty said.

A mum has been left flummoxed after entering a picture of her son for a local photography competition only for it to be rejected as the judges ruled it appeared to be AI-generated (pictured)

Suzi Dougherty’s (pictured) photograph of her 18-year-old Caspar was deemed ‘suspicious’ by judges despite the mum insisting it was taken on her iPhone

Despite never entering a photo competition, she entered it into Charing Cross Photography competition under the theme Fashion.

The entry was viewed by four judges who loved it but rejected it as they were suspicious it was AI-generated.

‘In our most recent photo competition, CCP received an image that first intrigued all the judges and then made suspicions set in so we decided not to include the photo for judging,’ the competition organizers said.

‘We have already indicated (in the social as well as the T&Cs of the competition) that although we may in the future include a section for AI images we are not accepting them now so ask that you do not submit any.

‘We want the images to come from YOUR real-life experience, and not sourced from cyberspace.

‘There is no way we can be completely sure the image submitted was made by AI but you really can’t ignore the gut instincts of four judges.’

Ms Dougherty was flummoxed by the decision but said that she was ‘flattered’ as she was wouldn’t have the slightest clue how to create an AI image.

‘I was a bit confused at first, I thought it was a bit of a prank but no, I was actually disqualified,’ she said.

‘I thought it was really funny and I was very flattered that they thought it was good enough to be AI.’

While she had never entered a competition before Ms Dougherty didn’t rule out a future entry joking: ‘I think I might have the photography bug now’.

‘I don’t know now I might try again, there is a kangaroo photography competition I saw and I might take my trusty iPhone out and have another go,’ she said.

Ms Dougherty also says she has no hard feelings for the photography shop who runs the competition saying they are a great place and have offered to make things right.

‘They have offered me a print in a frame and are going to put the picture in the window to sell the picture of my son in the shop which is amazing (that) they think it is good enough to do that.

“It is just hard and obviously people can’t tell anymore what is real and what’s not real.”

Iain Anderson, the owner of Charing Cross Photo Sydney, shared an update following a conversation with Ms Dougherty where she informed them that the picture was real.

‘It’s a great play on what is real and not in our world indeed,’ Mr Anderson said.

‘Sadly, for the entrant, the timing was not great considering that AI was such a hot topic and without the background info we felt the need to question the entire image.

‘We can confirm that this photo did not contravene our T&Cs.’