Photoshop and the Concerns it Brings

To understand the danger Photoshop introduced, it is important to look back to a time when photographs were widely accepted as reliable evidence and symbols of credibility. Before digital editing technology existed, altering a photograph required advanced darkroom techniques performed by trained professionals.

The equipment and expertise needed for photographic manipulation were expensive and inaccessible to most people, which limited the ability to alter images on a large scale. Because of this, photographs carried an authority that made them trustworthy in journalism, science, advertising, and even legal settings. Images were commonly viewed as direct representations of reality rather than constructed interpretations.

That perception began to change in 1987, when Thomas and John Knoll created Photoshop, which was officially released by Adobe in 1990. Photoshop transformed image editing by allowing users to manipulate photographs at the pixel level on a personal computer. With a few tools, individuals could remove imperfections, alter appearances, and completely reshape the meaning of an image.

What once required specialized knowledge, expensive equipment, and extensive time could now be done quickly and accessibly. Photoshop therefore marked a major turning point in visual culture, challenging the long-standing belief that photographs could automatically be trusted as objective evidence.

The World Photoshop Disrupted

What actually happened after the release?

Following its release, Photoshop generated both excitement and unease. Businesses, advertisers, artists, and media companies immediately recognized its creative potential. The software opened possibilities for artistic expression and commercial design unlike anything before it.

However, alongside this innovation came growing ethical concerns surrounding authenticity and manipulation. Journalists, photographers, and media scholars began questioning whether digitally altered images could still be considered truthful representations of reality.

One of the earliest and most controversial examples occurred in 1994, when Time Magazine digitally altered O.J. Simpson’s mugshot for its cover. The edited image darkened Simpson’s skin tone and created a more dramatic and threatening appearance. The controversy sparked public debate about the ethics of digital manipulation and raised questions about the difference between documentation and distortion. Critics argued that Photoshop did not simply enhance photographs but had the power to reshape public perception itself. This moment demonstrated that even in Photoshop’s early years, society already recognized the tension between creativity and credibility.

As Photoshop became increasingly available to the public, its influence expanded rapidly across media and culture. The software disrupted traditional forms of photographic expertise by making advanced editing accessible to ordinary users rather than only trained professionals.

At the same time, it also created new forms of expertise centered around digital editing and visual manipulation. Social media platforms, fashion industries, and advertising campaigns normalized the editing of appearances to the point where altered images became an everyday expectation. Gradually, people learned not to immediately trust what they saw online or in print.

Trust broken

This cultural shift fundamentally changed the relationship between society and photography. Terms such as “photoshopped” or “PS’ed” became common phrases used to question whether an image was genuine. Digital manipulation no longer appeared rare or shocking; instead, skepticism toward images became normalized.

Media theorists and critics increasingly warned that Photoshop weakened the credibility photography once possessed. As digital forensics expert Hany Farid explained, “Seeing is no longer believing.” His statement captures how Photoshop disrupted the historical assumption that photographs represented reality. Rather than serving as unquestioned evidence, images became objects of suspicion and interpretation.

Today’s World: Photoshops Dangerous Advancements

The long-term effects of Photoshop are even more relevant today with the rise of artificial intelligence. Modern AI tools, including deepfake technology, represent a more advanced version of the same issue Photoshop first introduced decades ago.

AI can now generate realistic photographs, videos, and audio recordings that appear entirely authentic despite being fabricated. Similar to the public reaction to Photoshop in the 1990s, these technologies have created both excitement and fear.

While AI offers powerful opportunities for creativity and innovation, it also intensifies concerns surrounding misinformation, deception, and the collapse of visual trust.

What changed Forever

Ultimately, Photoshop reshaped society’s understanding of images and credibility. It democratized digital editing and expanded creative possibilities, but it also weakened the automatic authority photographs once carried.

The release of Photoshop marked the beginning of a cultural shift in which images could no longer be accepted as unquestionable truth. Today, as AI-generated media becomes increasingly advanced, the same concerns continue to evolve. The debate is no longer simply about whether an image has been edited, but whether visual evidence itself can still be trusted in a digital world.

Before and After

Deeper Connection to AI

Adrian Johns demonstrated in The Nature of the Book (1998) that the authority of printed texts was not inherent—it had to be constructed. Early print culture was chaotic, filled with forgeries, unauthorized editions, and unreliable reproductions. Trust in the printed word emerged slowly, through booksellers’ reputations, readers’ networks, and institutional endorsements.

Wikipedia compressed that process dramatically, and made it visible. The negotiations over what counted as reliable knowledge—which had always happened, but usually behind institutional walls—now happened in public, in edit histories, on talk pages, in deletion debates.

This is what made Wikipedia historically significant, and what makes it relevant to debates about AI today: it forced the question of how we know what we know into plain view. The answer was never simply ‘experts said so.’ It was always more complicated. Wikipedia just made the complication impossible to ignore.

Neil Postman warned in Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985) that every new medium changes not just what we communicate but how we think about what is worth communicating. Wikipedia changed the medium of reference knowledge—and in doing so, it changed what questions we ask about knowledge itself.

Connection to AI

How I Used AI for This Essay

This essay was researched and written with the assistance of OpenAI and NotebookLM.

AI was useful for: Gathering relevant sources through NotebookLM, and the ability to tie in and relate those sources to the material presented in class.

Help structure the essay, bounce ideas off each other and be able to combine all researched materials into one centralized text with smooth transitions.

AI was not a reliable source for the details of the essay. I had to keep putting in new prompts such as “elaborate more on the expertise disruption due to Photoshop”, or “focus less on giving me an entire history of photoshop and more on how it disrupted trust.” Ai was also not as reliable when gathering a large group of source at once, some of the sources did not have as much relevance as I would’ve liked it to.

How I overcame these challenges and navigated the assignment

AI is something that, for the most part, you control how precise the output is. It was extremely helpful to give you a general idea and scaffold of the essay. However, you must revise the contents, whether manually or by inputing precise commands and prompts. Ai is the future, and we must learn how to both correctly and efficiently use it in our work. —

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