Image of Thai police in sparkly dresses with handcuffed suspect turns out to be AI fake A compelling image of Thai police officers in festival dresses with a drug dealer, widely published by major news outlets, was revealed to be an AI-generated fake. The image was created by a police Facebook administrator aiming for a friendlier police image, but its dissemination highlights significant challenges in media image verification. The incident also points to the growing problem of genuine images being wrongly suspected as AI-generated.

• A widely circulated image of Thai police in elaborate dresses with a suspect was an AI-generated fake.
• The fake image was published by several UK and US newspapers.
• The image was created by a police station’s Facebook administrator to foster a friendlier image.
• The real arrest involved officers in regular clothing, with no one dressed as a dancer.
• The incident underscores the difficulties media outlets face in verifying images, especially when sourced from seemingly official channels.
• AI verification tools are not yet reliable enough to prevent such fakes from being published.
• Media organizations are also dealing with the issue of genuine images being mistakenly identified as AI-generated.