homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Australian television mistakenly used AI to doctor the body and clothes of politician

You know all those times we were warned about AI-manipulated images? Well... they're here.

Mihai Andrei
January 30, 2024 @ 5:52 pm

share Share

Australia’s Channel Nine apologized after presenting a digitally altered image of Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell. The image had altered not only Purcell’s outfit — but her body as well. Nine News apologised and blamed the situation on “automation by Photoshop,” but Purcell lashed out on social media, and understandably so.

The modified and original images of Ms. Purcell.
The modified image (left) and the original image (right). Credits: Nine News / Twitter.

Purcell is the youngest woman in the state of Victoria’s parliament and has frequently spoken out against the sexualization and objectification that women in Australian politics face. This makes it all the more ironic that a news channel doctored an image of her to enlarge her breasts and expose her midriff. The photo was used for a promo for the network’s Monday night news bulletin.

“I endured a lot yesterday,” the politician said on Twitter. “But having my body and outfit photoshopped by a media outlet was not on my bingo card.”

“Note the enlarged boobs and outfit to be made more revealing. Can’t imagine this happening to a male MP. What gives?”

Apparently, Nine News claimed it was a Photoshop error. Melbourne representative Hugh Nailon has “unreservedly” apologised to Ms. Purcell for the “graphic error”, noting that:

“As is common practice, the image was resized to fit our specs. During that process, the automation by Photoshop created an image that was not consistent with the original,” he said in a statement on Tuesday, referring to a tool which uses AI to expand pictures.

“This did not meet the high editorial standards we have.”

But this is not the way AI enhancements really work in Photoshop. In fact, a spokesperson for Adobe (the company behind Photoshop) told the BBC that “Any changes to this image would have required human intervention and approval.”

What has been implicated is an AI “extension” of the image. Modern image-generating AIs have the ability to generate images from scratch, but also expand and continue existing images. This has been a subject of great debate especially regarding the biases that these AIs include — and Purcell’s case is a great example of that.

Beyond this particular case and the obvious problems it caused, it goes to show just how easy it has suddenly become for AI to sneak into the mainstream and cause misinformation. It also highlights the lack of tangible regulation around AI-generated imagery. This isn’t a random person on the internet doctoring another random person — it’s a news outlet with an image of a Member of Parliament.

Purcell is a member of the Animal Justice Party. The party envisions a “planet on which animals and nature have the right to live and thrive free from negative human interference and a human society which functions with kindness and compassion within its ecological limits as a responsible member of the Earth community.” Purcell appeared on Nine to discuss a controversial decision by a state leader to not ban duck hunting.

share Share

Ronan the Sea Lion Can Keep a Beat Better Than You Can — and She Might Just Change What We Know About Music and the Brain

A rescued sea lion is shaking up what scientists thought they knew about rhythm and the brain

Did the Ancient Egyptians Paint the Milky Way on Their Coffins?

Tomb art suggests the sky goddess Nut from ancient Egypt might reveal the oldest depiction of our galaxy.

Dinosaurs Were Doing Just Fine Before the Asteroid Hit

New research overturns the idea that dinosaurs were already dying out before the asteroid hit.

Denmark could become the first country to ban deepfakes

Denmark hopes to pass a law prohibiting publishing deepfakes without the subject's consent.

Archaeologists find 2,000-year-old Roman military sandals in Germany with nails for traction

To march legionaries across the vast Roman Empire, solid footwear was required.

Mexico Will Give U.S. More Water to Avert More Tariffs

Droughts due to climate change are making Mexico increasingly water indebted to the USA.

Chinese Student Got Rescued from Mount Fuji—Then Went Back for His Phone and Needed Saving Again

A student was saved two times in four days after ignoring warnings to stay off Mount Fuji.

The perfect pub crawl: mathematicians solve most efficient way to visit all 81,998 bars in South Korea

This is the longest pub crawl ever solved by scientists.

This Film Shaped Like Shark Skin Makes Planes More Aerodynamic and Saves Billions in Fuel

Mimicking shark skin may help aviation shed fuel—and carbon

China Just Made the World's Fastest Transistor and It Is Not Made of Silicon

The new transistor runs 40% faster and uses less power.