A Dutch politician won a seat in a local council election. However, her campaign photo, generated by artificial intelligence, was so different from reality that it led to her expulsion from the party.
The photo published in a local newspaper of 59-year-old Patricia Reichmann looked completely different from her actual appearance. The party 'Leefbaar Rotterdam' (Liveable Rotterdam) stated that this edited photo was not used in campaign materials or municipal publications.
The controversy escalated when a local newspaper, AD, discovered that Reichmann doesn't even live in the district she was elected to. Reichmann denied using AI, telling the Dutch newspaper AD that she used a program to enhance the photo's accuracy.
'The quality of the published photo was very low, so I used an online tool to increase the pixel count,' Reichmann said. She insisted she lives in the area, owning two homes.
The party she ran for, 'Leefbaar Rotterdam', issued a statement announcing her expulsion from the party. The statement read: 'It is clear that the photo has been extensively edited using AI and does not represent reality.'
Reichmann defended herself to a magazine, saying: 'When I go out with my son, people often think I'm his girlfriend. I constantly hear that I look much younger than my age.'
'Leefbaar Rotterdam' stated that they asked Reichmann to resign from her seat, but she refused, leaving the party with no choice but to expel her. Despite Reichmann's objections, it's clear she used an AI image generation tool; possibly by uploading her own photo. 'It is my photo, and that is really me,' she said.
