A journalist is facing criticism after acknowledging that she used artificial intelligence to modify a photograph of a woman wearing luxury accessories at a Michigan Democratic Party election-night gathering.
Olivia Reingold, a staff writer for The Free Press, shared the image on X on November 3. The photograph featured a woman’s Valentino shoes and Chanel bag, but Reingold did not initially tell her thousands of followers that AI had been used to enhance it.
“So far at Abdul El-Sayed’s election night event I’ve spotted Valentino heels, a Chanel bag, a Moncler jacket, Rolex watches, and a YSL bag among other designer items,” Reingold wrote in the caption.
Hundreds of users soon argued that the image looked AI-generated. Julia Black, a journalist at Vanity Fair, added to the criticism.
“AI image detectors confirmed that yes, Olivia Reingold used an AI-generated image to make her point, without a drop of disclosure. Wild!!!!” Black wrote.
Reingold later acknowledged on Thursday that she had used ChatGPT to “brighten and sharpen” what she maintained was an entirely genuine photograph.
“After processing, it still shows these same things: a woman wearing Valentino shoes and a Chanel bag,” the journalist wrote.
“She is a real (and chic!) woman, really wearing those items. The observation holds.”
Olivia Reingold, a staff writer at The Free Press, came under fire after acknowledging that she used AI to modify a photograph of a woman wearing luxury accessories at a Michigan Democratic Party election-night event
Reingold shared a photograph showing a woman’s Valentino shoes and Chanel bag on X on November 3. Users quickly claimed that the image appeared to have been generated or altered by AI
Reingold later said she had used ChatGPT to “brighten and sharpen” what she described as a genuine photograph
For many users, however, the explanation came too late, prompting questions about Reingold’s standards as a reporter.
“I’m sorry but you’re allegedly a professional journalist; how are you not aware that AI ‘upscaling’ completely confabulates missing detail?” one X user wrote. “That’s the only way it can work; there isn’t hidden data to recover. This isn’t a 2004 CSI episode where you just say ‘enhance photo.’”
“That’s not how it works. It takes your image, obliterates it, then recompiles it to a fully generated image. It’s no longer the same image. You aren’t adjusting the raw source, you’re recompiling the original image into a whole new product. How can you be a journalist?” another user asked.
A third critic wrote: “My career would be over (rightly so) if I ever tried to pass off an image touched with AI without telling people. Pathetically embarrassing, but not surprising from (narrows my eyes) Olivia Reingold.”
This outlet has contacted Reingold for comment.
Reingold joined The Free Press in 2022 and was covering the Democratic Party’s election-night event as Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed celebrated his victory.
El-Sayed, a Democrat, is set to become the first Muslim senator in US history after defeating Republican Mike Rogers in a fiercely contested and bitter race.
“After processing, it still shows these same things: a woman wearing Valentino shoes and a Chanel bag,” Reingold wrote on X after the backlash
The 42-year-old progressive’s victory was among the political shocks of midterm election night, when Democrats retook control of both the House and Senate in a major setback for Donald Trump during the final two years of his White House term.
By Wednesday morning, a succession of deeply conservative states had turned blue, helping Democrats take control of Congress in results that could signal the beginning of the end of the MAGA era.
Rogers and conservative allies questioned El-Sayed’s loyalties, alleging links to groups including the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed firmly rejected those claims, calling them Islamophobic attacks intended to divert attention from policy issues.
