Political party in New Zealand admits to using AI-generated people in attack ads

A political party in New Zealand has admitted to using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate people in their attack advertisements (political adsdesigned to wage a personal attack against an opposing candidate or party).

The National Party published a series of ads which included an imageof two nurses of Pacific Island descent, a group of robbers storming a jewellery store, a supposed crime victim gazing out of a window and one that showed the cast of Fast and Furious movie franchise, according to The Guardian.

The subjects in the images showedplasticine skin and elements that did not match up with human features - thereby raising suspicion. The party initially remained defensive to the allegations with party leader Christopher Luxon saying he needed to talk to his team.

“I don’t know about the topic in the sense of I am not sure. You are making an accusation that we are using it, I am not sure that we are. I will need to talk to our team,"Luxon was quoted as saying by Newshub.

National Party confirms the use of AI

However, after the controversy snowballed, a party spokesperson confirmed that AI was indeed used to create nurses, crime victims and robbers.

“Yes we have used AI to create some stock images,” said the spokesperson, adding that it was "an innovative way to drive our social media".

Elections in New Zealand are scheduled to be held in October this year. Experts believe that more parties will be using AI tools to reach the voters. While the National Party's use of AI was fairly innocuous, some may use it deliberately to spread misinformation.

ALSO WATCH |AI-generated pic of Pope Francis in bougie puffer jacket goes viral

The perils of using AI

AI-generated images and videos have started to cause chaos lately. Earlier this week, an image of a fire outside the Pentagon went viral on social media platforms.The image, which began circulating on Twitter on May 22, showed an explosion on a grass lawn outside the Pentagon.

After the controversy snowballed, theDepartment of Defence was forced to release a statement saying the image purportedly showing an explosion in Pentagon's premises was a piece of "misinformation". The Arlington Fire Department shortly tweeted that there was no explosion near the building.

(With inputs from agencies)

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