Adobe is selling AI-generated images of the Israel-Palestine conflict to journalism outlets as official stock images. Doctored realistic images generated entirely by computers are being pushed on Adobe’s platform with only minor references to its generative nature.
Reported by Australian outlet Crikey, the Adobe Stock service allows users to purchase images completely generated by artificial intelligence. In the terms of service, uploaders are required to mark works as AI generated, but this disclosure mostly goes unnoticed.
As Crikey reports, the Adobe Stock service is flooded with AI generated content. Any journalist who searches for images of a particular conflict, once captured by experienced photojournalists, are not greeted with pages of AI generated images created in a “realistic style”.
“Conflict between Israel and Palestine generative AI” is one of the most popular faux pictures on the Adobe Stock service. The image shows a missile strike on a cityscape, but the image is completely fabricated, and has been spread across the internet by media outlets who may not know better.
On major news outlets such as Sky News and The Daily Star, the AI generated image of the fake attack is used as the cover image of real news stories. Some outlets have used the image on the side of Israel, whereas others have used it on the side of Palestine.
Last year, we saw the rise of AI deepfakes being used in the Russia-Ukraine conflict in an attempt to crush Ukranian morale. However, those AI videos were not only shoddy, but also generated entirely by Russian forces.
Now, just one year later, AI generated misinformation is not only everywhere, but peddled as official product on services such as Adobe Stock and other platforms. While these services were once trusted platforms to gather official, useful photographs and pay photojournalists, they’re now dens of AI-generated fallacies.
With AI bringing in an end to reliable reality, there’s still a major lack of regulation regarding the creation and publication of AI images as fact. While its been argued that AI content cannot be copyrighted in the US, and Japan has enforced light AI regulation, it’s still a rampant issue.
Adobe has yet to comment on its publication of fake images of real-world conflict on the Adobe Stock platform.