An A.I.-Generated Picture Won an Art Prize. Artists Aren't Happy.

This year, the Colorado State Fair's annual art competition gave out prizes in all the usual categories: painting, quilting, sculpture. He created it with Midjourney, an artificial intelligence program that turns lines of text into hyper-realistic graphics. Mr. Allen's work, "Théâtre D'opéra Spatial," took home the blue ribbon in the fair's contest for emerging digital artists -- making it one of the first A.I.-generated pieces to win such a prize, and setting off a fierce backlash from artists who accused him of, essentially, cheating. Reached by phone on Wednesday, Mr. Allen defended his work. He said that he had made clear that his work -- which was submitted under the name "Jason M. Allen via Midjourney" -- was created using A.I., and that he hadn't deceived anyone about its origins.