What is the difference between Photoshop and AI photography?
There is a difference between using editing software to modify photos and using images that are fully generated by artificial intelligence.
The Maine Police Department said it misrepresented Ai-Mal evidence photos on social media this week.
The Westbrook Police Department said the photo editing app “changed the photo packaging and some of its other attributes” after uploading a Facebook photo of Paraphernalia seized on a drug bust on Bracket Street.
Westbrook police captain Steven Goldberg confirmed via email that the app used was ChatGpt, an artificial intelligence software.
When comparing the original and changed photos side by side, there are some inconsistencies. The packaging lettering was scrambled, the contents of the bag were changed, and all items were distorted.
How the police station says it happened
The department said executives were trying to digitally insert agent patches into the photographs before they were uploaded online.
“Usually, when you take a photo of such evidence, the officer physically puts a patch of the department into the photo,” Goldberg said. “They didn’t have any patches available, so the officers thought he could do that using Chat GPT.”
According to Westbrook police, no one in the department is aware of any changes the app has made to other parts of the image.
The photo was then posted on Facebook.
“We apologise for this surveillance. We never changed the image of the evidence. We never noticed that we would significantly change the photo by using the Photoshop app to add a logo,” the Westbrook Police Department said in an online statement.
Westbrook police said it’s not uncommon to find drug tools in packaging, making it much more difficult to distinguish between the modified images.
“When we first warned of public concerns about images, we assumed this was also the case in this situation. Obviously, we should have looked into the shared images further,” the department said.
The department says it wants to remain “completely transparent.”
Westbrook police said they would invite media members to see the tools in person to prove that the evidence exists and to prove that it is “completely transparent.”
Goldberg said the situation was the first time the department has changed photos using ChatGPT or similar apps. He also said that it will be the last one.
“We believe this is a valuable lesson we have learned,” the department said in an online statement.
