Advances in artificial intelligence have radically transformed the nature and meaning of photographic images. Traditionally, photography has served as an index of reality—what Roland Barthes describes as the “that-has-been”—anchoring moments, bodies, and histories to material existence. However, the rise of AI image-generation tools enables the creation of hyper-realistic images that possess the visual grammar of photography without any corresponding event in space and time. These synthetic images blur the boundaries between memory and imagination, presence and simulation, documentation and desire. This study examines the philosophical implications of AI-generated photography through the theories of Barthes, Walter Benjamin, Susan Sontag, Jean Baudrillard, and Vilém Flusser. It argues that AI introduces a new photographic ontology: the “that-could-have-been.” In this emerging landscape, aura becomes programmable, authenticity becomes affective rather than factual, and the photograph evolves from a record of reality to an instrument for reimagining it. Through this conceptual lens, the research explores how AI images challenge established notions of truth, mourning, authorship, and representation, revealing a contemporary visual culture driven not by the desire to capture the world as it is, but to fabricate the worlds we long for.

Authors:
Jerrica Sabariaga - Mendoza, De La Salle University, Philippines

About the Presenter(s)
Jerrica Sabariaga is a visual artist, researcher, and photographer whose work explores space, mapping, and photography, examining the links between past and present. She is currently a PhD student at De La Salle University–Manila, where her research focuses on Philosophy and its application to different media and fieldwork.

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