POST-PHOTOGRAPHY AND POST-HUMAN: THE IMAGE IN THE AGE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Abstract

This article proposes a theoretical reflection on the contemporary transformations of the technical image based on the concept of post-photography, articulating it with the notion of the post-human in the context of artificial intelligence (AI). It starts from the problem that the rise of the algorithmic image reconfigures the ontological, authorial, and epistemological statuses of photography, shifting it from a regime of indexical recording to a regime of synthetic and post-human production. The central hypothesis is that contemporary photography has ceased to be merely a device for recording reality and has become a system of algorithmic image production, in which authorship, indexicality, and ontological status are profoundly reconfigured. The theoretical framework mobilizes foundational contributions and contemporary dialogues on image and photography and deepens the debate on concepts of "dialectical image," "second technique," "aesthetic regime of the arts," and the notion of "sharing of the sensible." Furthermore, the discussion on AI is deepened through the concept of "perception machine" and post-humanist theorists. It can be concluded that post-photography, enhanced by AI, represents not only a technological transformation, but an epistemological shift in the relationship between image, reality, and subjectivity, requiring new critical tools for understanding contemporary visual culture.