A photograph of Thai police officers in sparkly dresses arresting a drug suspect, which was widely shared by international media, has been revealed as an AI-generated fake. The image, originally posted by Tha Luang police station in Thailand, showed five men and one woman in elaborate festival attire surrounding a handcuffed suspect.
The arresting scene was picked up by UK outlets including the Daily Star, the Telegraph, the Sun and the New York Post. However, the real photograph, later released by the station, shows the five male officers in standard uniforms, with no female officer or festive costumes present.
The administrator in charge of the station’s Facebook account admitted creating the fake image, saying the aim was to present “a friendlier image” and show “a cute and humorous side” of the police. The actual arrest did take place, but the viral image was entirely fabricated using artificial intelligence.
The incident has highlighted the challenges media outlets face in verifying images, especially when they originate from seemingly official sources. Several newspapers, including the Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Sun, have since clarified that their stories were based on the fake AI image supplied by police.
Editors are increasingly wary of AI-generated content, but verification remains difficult. The same technology that can create convincing fakes also leads to genuine images being wrongly suspected of being AI-generated, compounding the problem for news organisations.
