Is it ethical to use AI-generated or altered images to report on human struggle?
With my team members, Alefiya Presswala, Jacqueline Vickery, Kai Lincke and Malcolm Alexander, we explored the ethics of using AI-generated visual content to depict human struggles for our Journalism Ethics class at Ithaca College.
As Israel and Hamas launched into a deadly conflict on October 7, 2023, the world has been witnessing the event unfold through photos posted on social media and news websites. We looked up on Adobe Stock by typing in "Palestine Gaza" and found out a photo by an Iranian visual effect artist Meysam Azarneshin was published in a United Nations document. However, this photo is not real; it was partially generated by AI. It was not labeled as so on Adobe Stock Images.
To investigate the problem and solve the ethical dilemma, we interviewed Dario Veréb, a photo editor at NZZ and Matthew Abbott, an Australian photojournalist who worked on Manus Island. We also investigated more examples of AI-generated photo projects, such as "90 miles" by Michael Christopher Brown and "Exhibit AI: The Refugee Account" by Lawyer Maurice Blackburn.
As Israel and Hamas launched into a deadly conflict on October 7, 2023, the world has been witnessing the event unfold through photos posted on social media and news websites. We looked up on Adobe Stock by typing in "Palestine Gaza" and found out a photo by an Iranian visual effect artist Meysam Azarneshin was published in a United Nations document. However, this photo is not real; it was partially generated by AI. It was not labeled as so on Adobe Stock Images.
To investigate the problem and solve the ethical dilemma, we interviewed Dario Veréb, a photo editor at NZZ and Matthew Abbott, an Australian photojournalist who worked on Manus Island. We also investigated more examples of AI-generated photo projects, such as "90 miles" by Michael Christopher Brown and "Exhibit AI: The Refugee Account" by Lawyer Maurice Blackburn.