Michi, the illustrator, said the artwork passed for machine creation, though they later came clean.
A self-described artist says they won an AI-generated image competition held at their office by entering a hand-drawn illustration. According to a social media post, the submission, a drawing of a cat, ended up winning the prize – a box of chocolates which they later forfeited – after “nobody noticed it wasn’t AI.”
The artwork shows the perspective of the artist overlooking a cat sitting on a laptop connected to a monitor. The tabby was revealed to be a real feline from a picture that seemingly inspired the drawing.
My workplace held an AI-generated image contest and I submitted an illustration I drew. Nobody noticed it wasn’t AI and I ended up winning. pic.twitter.com/M0jVfLiwUV
— Michi (@NekoMichiUBC) April 16, 2025
“For the record, I’m not completely against AI,” clarified the illustrator, who uses the name Michi on X. “I think it has massive potential in scientific research. We’ve already been using it here for protein structure and genomic analysis and it’s been a powerful tool.”
“However as an artist, I also feel that it’s important to remember that technology should be regarded as a tool to extend our own creativity and capabilities, not replace them.”
Michi said they’d have preferred for the competition to be a real art or photography contest, but suspected that it may not have been a competition at all, just an interactive activity to see whose submission got the most “smiles.”
The artist also clarified that after winning, they disclosed “the nature of the artwork” and that it was all in good fun.
“As for the prize, it was a box of chocolates that I decided to forfeit by sharing with the rest of the office (I can’t eat that much sweets anyway),” Michi added.
This isn’t the first time man has beaten machine in an AI contest.
Miles Astray, a photographer, won the People’s Vote Award and third place in AI category at the 1839 Awards’ Color Photography Contest in 2024 with a portrait of a real flamingo sleeping with its head tucked in its feathers.