{"id":573677,"date":"2026-07-07T17:42:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T17:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/573677\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T17:42:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T17:42:14","slug":"tennessee-tourism-celebrates-real-photographers-by-banishing-ai-images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/573677\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Tourism Celebrates Real Photographers by Banishing AI Images"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Colorful<\/p>\n

In the age of AI-generated photos, Tennessee\u2019s Department of Tourist Development wants prospective visitors to know its beautiful sights are 100% real. <\/p>\n

Tennessee\u2019s new tourism campaign has a simple tagline: \u201cYeah, it\u2019s real.\u201d It comes with a little checkmark-centric graphic, plastered over the top of real-life, real-world photos shot from across Tennessee, like an authenticity watermark of sorts. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day, millions of AI-generated photos are created,\u201d the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development explains. \u201cAnd while AI has a lot of potential, it\u2019s not always used in the right way. Leading to feeds flooded with fake imagery and travelers who can\u2019t even tell what\u2019s real anymore. Until now.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tennessee Tourism\u2019s solution, the new \u201ccertified mark,\u201d verifies that a photo of Tennessee\u2019s natural wonders and tourist attractions is authentic. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can trust it\u2019s a real view from a real destination you can really visit,\u201d the state says.<\/p>\n

\"TwoPhoto by Felipe Rincon <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just a simple mark, either. Each verified image comes with metadata, showing precisely where and when the photo was captured and by whom. For example, a photo from October 12, 2023, of Reelfoot Lake State Park was shot by photographer Felipe Rincon using a Sony a7R IV with a Sony FE 24-105mm f\/4 G OSS lens. <\/p>\n

\"ColorfulPhoto by Jared Kreiss \"TwoPhoto by Jared Kreiss \"APhoto by Jared Kreiss \"APhoto by Jared Kreiss <\/p>\n

Photographer Jared Kreiss used his Sony a7R V to capture a featured image at Lost Creek Falls just a couple of months ago. He used a Sony 16-35mm f\/2.8 GM lens at 26mm and f\/16. Kreiss has a few other featured shots, including one from Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2021, when he was using an older Sony a7R III, and another from 2023 capturing a beautiful bear portrait. <\/p>\n

As Tennessee Tourism explains, it is not just focused on avoiding wholly AI-generated imagery for its new campaign, any AI-based editing is disallowed. That means no Generative Fill, no AI Style Transfer, and no AI-powered filters. <\/p>\n

\u201cAny AI-generated alteration that creates, adds, or changes reality\u201d is prohibited. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\u2028Color adjustments, basic global edits, and removing sensor dust spots are allowed, as long as dust spot removal uses old-school healing tools. <\/p>\n

This new campaign is \u201ca commitment to authenticity and a promise to travelers that, when it comes to Tennessee, what you see is what you get,\u201d Mark Ezell, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development tells Tennessee Lookout<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure travelers know when they look at photos on TNVacation.com, they can trust that what they see is a real place captured by a real photographer,\u201d Ezell continues. <\/p>\n

\u201cI find it incredibly frustrating to see AI-generated images being passed off as photography of real places, and even more frustrating when people believe they\u2019re real. To me, that\u2019s deceptive,\u201d photographer Jared Kreiss tells Tennessee Lookout. \u201cIt\u2019s becoming harder and harder to tell real from AI. I am incredibly excited about this campaign and to know Tennessee\u2019s tourism\u00a0 department is working to preserve what is real. I think it is more important than ever to protect that. I really value that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fantastic initiative that celebrates real photographers taking actual, authentic images of places that truly exist and can look as beautiful as they appear. Photos are among the most powerful ways for states, parks, and regions to encourage visitors to come, and it is vital that the photos people see are representative of the places they hope to visit. <\/p>\n

Image credits:<\/strong> Tennessee Tourism. Featured photos by Felipe Rincon and Jared Kreiss. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the age of AI-generated photos, Tennessee\u2019s Department of Tourist Development wants prospective visitors to know its beautiful…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[267],"tags":[291,290,365,362,363,364,54623,83294,366,18,117,19,17,374,3618,917,5986,4319,461],"class_list":["post-573677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-ai","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-authentic","tag-authenticity","tag-design","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-landscape","tag-nature","tag-tennessee","tag-tourism","tag-travel","tag-wildlife"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116879933926671606","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}