Amnesty International Used AI-Generated Images In A Campaign It’s Caused A Heated Debate

Human rights advocacy group Amnesty International has copped major flak for using AI-generated images of real protests in its campaigns, but the issue is more complicated than it seems. Colombian police made headlines in 2021 over its systemic violence against (often women and LGBTQIA+) protesters, who officers imprisoned, brutally tortured and sexually assaulted. Sickening stories of women being kidnapped and raped by officers of the state led human rights orgs to condemn the unrest and call for justice — which brings us to Amnesty International, whose research and campaigns aims to educate the broader public of the human rights abuses in the state and helpfully assist in introducing reforms. Despite the good intentions and essential work the organisation does, its Bogotá campaign has received the wrong kind of attention after critics noticed the images it used of protesters weren’t of real people at all. Instead, they’re AI-generated — which is obvious if you inspect the images for more than a few seconds. The faces of the distressed protesters are warped with uncanny proportions, the clarity of certain faces is sharper than others, the colours of the flags held by protesters is off and the police uniforms are inconsistent. Honestly, it looks like if you used FaceTune on a face 18 times in a row. The AI images, created to represent real events, attracted criticism from actual photo-journalists and media scholars who reckon this shit only feeds conspiracy theorists and those that don’t trust the news. “We are living in a highly polarised era full of fake news, which makes people question the credibility of the media,” Juancho Torres

The Guardian

By using AI-generated photos of police brutality in Colombia, Amnesty International is practically begging atrocity-deniers to call them liars. Either use the work of brave photojournalists, or use actual illustrations. AI-generated photos just undermine trust in your findings https://t.co/S6A2otSNy5

— Molly Crabapple (@mollycrabapple) May 2, 2023

And as image synthesis reproduces and reinforces visual stereotypes almost by default, its careless use as a substitute for documentary photography turns the world into a cliché: it may mobilize affects for a legitimate cause, but it's ultimately nothing more than propaganda 3/3

— Roland Meyer (@bildoperationen) May 1, 2023

“We have removed the images from social media posts, as we don’t want the criticism for the use of AI-generated images to distract from the core message in support of the victims and their calls for justice in Colombia,” Erika Guevara Rosas, director for Americas at Amnesty, said per The Guardian.

“But we do take the criticism seriously and want to continue the engagement to ensure we understand better the implications and our role to address the ethical dilemmas posed by the use of such technology.”

Gareth Sella

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