Most of us have seen the fake photos making the round this week, mostly the one of the little girl in a boat holding a puppy. These photos are easy to spot as fakes, being created by AI image-generators.
Many of my photojournalist friends called out these photos, some even promising to “unfriend” anyone who shares them.
I called someone out for it right here in our community, and the response was the usual defensive nonsense: yes, but there is a real crisis, so it’s okay. They even took the opportunity to accuse me of “the liberal media,” laying bare the depth and breadth of their ignorance.
As it turns out, there are plenty of real photos of the hurricane and the flooding, created by real photojournalists.
“Fake disaster images don’t just damage trust in the specific events they misrepresent, they erode trust in all media over time. People who feel deceived by one image are more likely to become skeptical of future disaster coverage, even if it’s legitimate,” Forbes Magazine said last week.
So what are these AI defenders saying? That sharing, posting, and believing fake photos is fine when you want them to support your point of view?
As I write this, Hurricane Milton is bearing down on Florida, but by the time you read this, it will have struck. My hope is that everyone sets aside the nonsense of AI and fakes, and takes in the real journalism surrounding this event.
