The symposium is held in Lishui on Nov 7. [Photo/WeChat account: ls-mnews]

The 5th International Photography Symposium – a key event of the 2023 Lishui Photography Festival – was held in Lishui city, in East China's Zhejiang province, on Nov 7.

The symposium brought together experts and scholars from China and other countries to explore the latest trends and challenges of image art in the era of global artificial intelligence or AI and the interaction between AI technology and photography.

The symposium also featured presentations and discussions by photographers from different countries, who shared their works and insights into how AI influences photography.

Claudio Brufola, a founder of the Italian Photography Foundation, gave a searching interpretation of AI, suggesting that it should be called an "artificial image aggregator". He also stressed that the future of photography largely depended on one’s own culture and convictions.

The Lishui Photography Festival is a major academic platform for photography exchanges, innovation and displays.

The Lishui Photography Festival has been held 10 times since 2004. The current edition was the biggest and most international one in its history, with 917 exhibitions selected from 5,117 entries and 45,865 works submitted by 10,391 photographers and curators from 63 countries and regions.