白宮為分享顯示被捕女子哭泣的AI生成圖像辯護

White House defends sharing AI image showing arrested woman crying

Summary

A senior White House official has defended posting an AI-manipulated image of a woman arrested by federal agents over an anti-immigration enforcement protest

BBC Verify has identified and tracked 42 sanctioned Russian "shadow fleet" oil tankers sailing through the English Channel

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Edited by Rob Corp

How we tracked shadow fleet tankers passing through the English Channelpublished at 12:30 GMT12:30 GMT

Kayleen Devlin and Barbara MetzlerBBC Verify

BBC Verify has been investigating how many Russian “shadow fleet” oil tankers have passed through the English Channel this month after the UK government said it had identified a legal way to intercept them.

Estimates vary, but the shadow fleet refers to hundreds of tankers that use deceptive practices like concealing their origin or ownership to transport sanctioned oil from countries including Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

The UK has sanctioned more than 500 Russia-linked shadow fleet tankers. Between 11 and 22 January, we tracked 42 UK-sanctioned vessels transiting the English Channel, many carrying Russian crude oil.

We identified these ships using MarineTraffic then verified some of their movements with satellite imagery.Alongside this, we examined a US-sanctioned tanker described as “the darkest of the dark fleet”, which sailed through UK waters earlier in January under a false identity before being turned away by German authorities.

German federal police told us the vessel - operating as Arcusat but identified as the sanctioned Tia - is under active investigation.

Experts call US plan for Gaza ‘unrealistic’published at 12:12 GMT12:12 GMT

Benedict GarmanBBC Verify senior journalist

Following Jared Kushner’s presentation at Davos on the US plans for the redevelopment of the Gaza Strip, we spoke to experts in urban planning to get their assessments.

Michael Batty, emeritus Bartlett professor of planning at University College London, said Kushner’s plan is “simply not possible”.

“To assemble the equipment to remove the present rubble in Gaza and to then organise the Strip into zones of housing is not easy - simply to produce a workable plan is hard and usually takes years," he told BBC Verify.

Much of the southern Gaza city of Rafah is now in ruins after the two-year war between Israel and Hamas

During his presentation Kushner claimed that building one of the plan’s proposed cities - New Rafah - could take as little as two or three years.

Tim Dixon, emeritus professor at the School of the Built Environment at the University of Reading, said that time-frame “is not a realistic ambition“.

“For comparison,” he said, “in China, where state intervention is the norm and skilled labour is readily available… timeframes of at least five to 10 years apply for many similar-sized new cities, with full development taking up to 20 years.”

What the ‘New Gaza’ map shows about US plans for the Strippublished at 11:08 GMT11:08 GMT

Benedict GarmanBBC Verify senior journalist

A map of “New Gaza” was presented by Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner at the World Economic Forum in Davos, outlining the US vision for the future of the Strip.

The map shows a buffer zone of about 1km encircling Gaza. This area, which has already been cleared of buildings and is currently held by the Israeli military, would reduce Gaza’s overall size by about a fifth.

The plan includes eight residential zones - four in the south, two in central Gaza, and two in the north.The southern residential zones don’t quite correspond with the current cities of Rafah or Khan Younis but given both are now mostly in ruins any redevelopment would essentially start from scratch.

The towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun in the north, which have also been destroyed by Israel, no longer exist on the “New Gaza” map.

The plan also shows a much larger port, relocated from Gaza City where it is now, to the south west corner of the Strip. This would be directly accessible by Israel via the existing buffer zone in the border area between Egypt and Gaza, known as the Philadelphi Corridor.

White House shares AI-manipulated image of alleged anti-ICE protesterpublished at 10:29 GMT10:29 GMT

Thomas CopelandBBC Verify Live journalist

An image of a woman arrested by US authorities and shared by the White House, external has been edited using artificial intelligence, experts have told BBC Verify.

The AI-manipulated image was shared about 30 minutes after the original was posted by US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, external.

In the original picture posted by Noem the woman appears to be expressionless but in the later, AI-manipulated image, she is shown to be crying. The White House’s post on X has now gathered almost five million views.

Hany Farid, a computer science professor at the University of California and founder of GetReal Security, told BBC Verify it was “not the first time the White House has shared AI-manipulated or AI-generated content”.

The woman in the picture, Nekima Levy Armstrong, was arrested for allegedly organising a demonstration that disrupted a church service in Minnesota last Sunday, external where a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.

When we asked the White House to comment on the image they directed us to an X post by deputy communications director Kaelan Dorr.

“Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Dorr wrote, external.

Farid said the White House’s use of AI-generated content is “troubling on several levels”.

“Not only are they sharing deceptive content, they are making it increasingly more difficult for the public to trust anything they share with us.”

Friday at BBC Verifypublished at 10:15 GMT10:15 GMT

Rob CorpBBC Verify Live editor

Good morning.

he White House has defended using artificial intelligence
to manipulate a picture of a woman arrested by US agents. The picture shared on
its X feed shows Nekima Levy Armstrong crying - but in the original she appears
stoney-faced. We’re looking to get expert comment on the Trump administration’s
regular use of AI images in its political messaging.

A BBC Verify investigation has found that dozens of
sanctioned oil tankers have sailed through the English Channel this month
despite the UK government being told it can legally detain the vessels. You can read the full story here and
later we’ll explain how we identified and tracked the ships.

Elsewhere, we’re fact-checking US President Donald Trump’s claim that Nato troops were
deployed “a little off the front lines” in Afghanistan.
Our data team is breaking down the figures on how many troops died from the
countries that contributed forces to the US-led war.

If you’ve seen a story, claim, video or image that you think
BBC Verify could investigate then get in touch with us here.

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