AI images of Minneapolis ICE agent spread confusion : NPR

The original still image from an eyewitness video shows the masked ICE agent who shot Renee Nicole Good (left). Users on social media “exposed” the agent using Grok (right). Experts have warned that AI cannot “unmask” individuals. NPR is publishing both images to show how AI is being used to manipulate images of news events.

Screenshot by NPR/Image by Courtney Theophin/NPR

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Screenshot by NPR/Image by Courtney Theophin/NPR

Hours after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis, an image of the ICE agent who fired the shot began circulating.

While the agent was masked in eyewitness video of the incident, he appeared uncovered in several social media posts. That image appears to have been created by xAI’s generative AI chatbot, Grok, in response to users on X asking the bot to “unmask” the agent.

NPR is publishing both images to show how AI is being used to manipulate real evidence of news events, but using AI to “expose” anyone is ill-advised, according to experts.

“AI-powered enhancements have a tendency to hallucinate facial details, creating an enhanced image that may be clear to look at, but may also be devoid of reality with respect to biometric identification,” Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley who specializes in the analysis of digital images, wrote in an email to NPR.

Despite this, the AI-generated image began circulating late Wednesday night with one name — Steve Groves. The origin of that name was not immediately clear, but by Thursday morning, it was sparking anger toward at least two Steve Groves who had no connection to the shooting.

A Springfield, Mo. There was a gun shop owner named Steven Grove. That Grove woke up to find that his Facebook page was under attack. Steven Grove explained, “I never considered ‘Steve’.” Springfield Daily Citizen“And then, of course, I’m not in Minnesota, I don’t work for ICE, and you know, I have 20 inches of hair on my head, but whatever,”

The second Steve Grove was its publisher. Minnesota Star TribuneIn a statement, the newspaper said it was monitoring a “coordinated online disinformation campaign”,

“We encourage people looking for factual information reported and written by trained journalists, not bots, to follow and subscribe Minnesota Star Tribune,” the newspaper wrote.

meanwhile, Star Tribune And others, including NPR, have identified the ICE agent’s name as Jonathan Ross. Court documents show Ross was dragged by a car during another traffic stop in Bloomington, Minn., last June.