New Zealand photographer defends satellite image against AI accusations

New Zealand photographer Brendan Larsen spent two hours in September taking hundreds of photos of the night sky above Mount Taranaki. He combined them into one image showing around 1,400 satellites and 14,000 bright trails crossing the sky. The trails come from satellites launched by companies like SpaceX, which have greatly increased the number of objects orbiting Earth. The image was viewed millions of times online and was featured by The Guardian. However, many people accused Larsen of using artificial intelligence to create it, because the result looked too extraordinary to be real. The accusations show how difficult it has become for photographers to prove their work is genuine, now that AI tools can produce very realistic images.