Original Summary

Ian Gilbert / Photographer Ian Gilbert says he's heard parents boasting about how they use AI to take the watermark off to avoid paying for school photos A photographer is warning parents who use artificial intelligence to take the watermark off school pictures about the dangers of how companies can use images of their children. Ian Gilbert, founder of Emotion Picture Photography, said he had heard parents boasting at the school gates about how they use the tool to avoid paying for photos. "The scary thing is when you submit a picture to AI by default it is allowed to do whatever it wants and I don't think a lot of parents realise that," he said. An AI safety expert said he understood why people did it, and that it may seem harmless, but uploading any identifiable information, including photographs, was "not worth the risk". Gilbert, from Pontypool, Torfaen, urged parents to think carefully before uploading their child's photograph to an AI tool. Annual school photographs are a rite of passage but, with technology now able to remove watermarks from preview images in seconds, some parents are bypassing the payment process altogether. "It is theft, it is shoplifting," said 47-year-old Gilbert. "People wouldn't go into a shop and take a tag off something and take it without paying. "It's as though because it's something you can do online at home, it seems to numb it in people's eyes." Ian Gilbert / Ian Gilbert says AI is a "huge issue", especially when taking pictures of groups Gilbert said other photographers were increasingly seeing the same behaviour from parents. He noticed that about 25% of images sent out were being screenshot to be used in AI tools as he is notified when it happens. "That's a quarter of parents not paying. A quarter of profit lost for us. Also the school get a cut from the revenue as well, so it's a loss for the school." The photographer said he had noticed a drop in profits in the past 12 months. He said he heard parents at the school gates talking using AI to avoid paying after he had been inside taking photos. "They were referring to my own photos that I took at the school. "One said 'Are you going to buy the pics?' And the other said 'I'm just going to get AI to remove the watermark off and it only costs me a pound'." He said all people had to do was claim they were the owner of the image in order for the watermark to be removed. Gilbert told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that he wanted his photos to be affordable so charged from £9. "For the sake of a couple of pounds with AI you're getting such a lower-quality product and ultimately it just makes us have to put prices up again, which is unfair for everyone," he said. "You are constantly fighting and chasing your tail." He added that the company he worked with was working to implement "high-tech methods to beat AI" including putting moving images over photos so they cannot be copied. Dr Simon Thorne, a senior computer science lecturer at Cardiff School of Technologies, urged people, as a general rule, to "never upload any personable identifiable photos". "It's a terrible idea. It's a big risk," he said. "The dataset could get leaked online potentially and your material can be used to train future generations of the model. The image could be sold - you have no idea. "Depending on the service, you may have very little idea how long that image is retained, how it is processed or whether it is reused." Thorne said if the photograph contained other children, it raises an additional issue because their parents may have no idea that an image of their child has been uploaded to an AI system. "We recently had a case where a child was ill and missed a school photograph, so a parent used AI to add them back into the picture afterwards," he said. "I can understand entirely why they did that, but they did not seem to appreciate that uploading and manipulating images of children in this way can carry real privacy and safeguarding risks." Theft aside, Gilbert said this method also gave people a low-quality photo. "Our work is not just a quick shot - we have really beautiful set ups and spend a lot of time and money creating images. "Across the board it's getting worse and worse and if it gets to the point where it's not profitable for us, I may have to stop my service." "It's a huge issue, but I don't know how we would attack it. How would you make ChapGPT aware and hold them to account? It feels like a David and Goliath situation." He added that the Guild of Photographers was looking at how they can bring prosecutions to people using such services and not paying. Victoria Welton / Victoria Welton says parents who used AI to remove watermarks from pictures were stealing photographers' livelihoods Victoria Welton, a photographer based in Crewkerne, works across 15 schools and nurseries in Somerset. She also said many parents were using AI to take the watermark off pictures so they could access them for free. She added they were stealing photographers' livelihoods as well as possibly putting children at risk. "To put your child's photograph through AI makes my blood boil. AI is a system we know nothing about. We don't know where the photo is going," she said. Gary Hill / Tessa Chapman says parents using AI is costing her a "huge amount of money" Tessa Chapman, a photographer based in south Somerset, said parents removing watermarks were costing her a "huge amount of money". She said: "It's illegal. It's our livelihoods. I think a lot of parents don't realise that. "School photography is very historical. For some parents it's absolutely huge. "What I noticed over the years is, often in lower socio-economic areas, this might be the only professional image that a family can afford of their child. "I'm just trying to run a business. I have to have faith in people's honesty." Dylan Evans / Dylan Evans only charges £2 a photo, but has still had his pictures taken Dylan Evans, a 21-year-old sports photographer, had only been shooting for a

  • 情报分类：商业与市场研究
  • 分类依据：内容涉及商业、投资或市场动态
  • 信息来源：英语新闻 / BBC News Top Stories
  • 发布时间：2026/10/9 13:08:09