A 30-year-old man, identified as Ye Linfaces charges of up to three years in prison in Sigapur after the creation and dissemination of an image generated with artificial intelligence (AI) of a crocodile in the Pandan reservoir, a popular area for water sports and activities.
The episode, which generated panic at the local level, occurred on August 20 and forced local authorities to launch an operation to search for the alleged reptile, reported the South China Morning Post.
In that sense, both Singapore Rowing Association as the Singapore Canoeing Federation They received alerts and instructions to suspend all their activities at the site.
The next day, after an intense search, the Singapore National Water Agency (PUB) confirmed that it was a fake photograph and reported the incident to the police. According to court documents, Lin sent the image to a person identified as Min Min Oo.
Although their relationship is not clarified, the police stated in a statement that Lin had sent said image to “your colleague.” Along these lines, the man is accused of communicate a false message and of obstruct justice for supposedly deleting the image and app history Gemini AI.
“The man subsequently deleted the image and the related app in an attempt to conceal his actions.”the police said in an official statement.
According to the BBCsending a fake message in Singapore can carry three types of penalties: three years in prison, a fine of up to 10,000 Singapore dollars (about $7,800), or both. On the other hand, obstruction of justice carries up to seven years in prison, a fine, or both.
Local media reported that Lin told the court, through an interpreter, that he had the intention to plead guilty. In that sense, he will appear in court again on November 10.
On the other hand, the authorities warned that, faced with similar episodes, They will take action against anyone who spreads false information. “In addition to causing fear and inconvenience to citizens, these falsehoods also lead to the unnecessary use of public resources to address these incidents,” they indicated.
A prank that mobilized the emergency services
It is not the first time that the irresponsible use of AI has been sanctioned by justice. In May, it was announced that a 40-year-old man faces a sentence of five years in prison and a fine of 6,000 euros, for having published a false image, created with artificial intelligence, that generated disasters in a city of South Korea.
The event took place in Daejeon, where shortly before, a wolf that had escaped from the zoo sparked concern in the area. In this context, a man took advantage of the situation and used AI to create an image of an animal, which was supposedly wandering around the city.
The event, which began as a joke, ended up generating a massive emergency deployment in the city, with economic costs: the image circulated on social networks and the police, thinking it was true, closed schools, mobilized firefighters and deployed emergency forces for nine days, searching for the supposed animal.
After a while, They discovered that the image was fake and that it had been generated by AI. After tracing the digital records, they reached the architect of these actions, who confessed that he did this “for fun”, without considering the consequences. However, the results were not so fun, since now he must face charges for “disturbing the work of the Government through deception.”
As explained by the police, the fruitless search delayed the location of the real wolf and diverted essential resources from citizen protection.