Amnesty says it has resorted to artificial intelligence images to protect Colombian protesters from possible state reprisals.
The international human rights organization Amnesty International has come under fire after it published artificially generated images on its social media accounts. Reported about it the Guardian magazine (you will switch to another service)according to which the organization has since removed the images from its pages.
Artificial intelligence images released by Amnesty show extensive protests in Colombia in 2021, where the police are known to have used extreme violence. Dozens of civilians died in the clashes and the actions of the police were widely condemned around the world.
In one photo, a group of police officers drags a female protester. The faces of the people in the picture have been softened. The tricolor flag wrapped around the woman has the correct colors of the Colombian flag, but they are in the wrong order. The uniforms of the police officers, on the other hand, are outdated. In connection with the pictures, information was published, according to which it was specifically about pictures created by artificial intelligence.
“The connection between journalists and people is disappearing”
Photojournalists and media researchers have warned that the publication of artificial intelligence images could undermine Amnesty’s own work and fuel conspiracy theories.
– We live in a highly polarized era filled with fake news, where people question the reliability of the media. As we know, AI lies. What is your credibility when you start posting images that are created by artificial intelligence? ponders a photojournalist working in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia Juancho Torres.
Torres believes that by publishing artificial intelligence images, Amnesty has insulted journalists and photojournalists who were doing their jobs and at the same time risking their lives at the forefront of the protests.
– My friend lost his eye. By using artificial intelligence images, that reality not only disappears, but also the connection between journalists and people.
Director of the organization’s Americas operations Erika Guevara-Rosas says Amnesty relied on artificial intelligence images to protect protesters from possible state retaliation.
He says that Amnesty has now removed the images so that they do not draw attention away from the work that the organization does to support the victims and their demands for justice in Colombia.
Guevara-Rosas also assures that Amnesty undertakes to take into account the ethical problems associated with the use of new artificial intelligence technology.