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As a former newspaper photographer, I just want to say that I really dislike the use of an AI generated image for this story. Good images would have been a phot

As a former newspaper photographer, I just want to say that I really dislike the use of an AI generated image for this story. Good images would have been a photo of the people or the place where this happened. A photo of a traditional brewing setup. A photo of a beer delivery truck (the story mentions saving on transport costs). There’s just so many real things that could have been used instead. I don’t even mind if they just grabbed the image from google (copyright is not a big concern of mine, but they could use freely licensed images from a variety of sources if they care). The photo is meant to be part of the story. To just have the computer make up a photo seems to kind of miss the mark for me. I think part of what I don’t like is that even though the image is labeled as AI generated, it still may be misleading to readers. It’s adding fabricated details to the story that will get in to people’s minds. If this becomes commonplace it’s going to lead to a lot more misinformation.

schroeding 4y ago
The worst thing is that they are wrong. There are images. Here is a video from the German public broadcaster RBB: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GqEr5TOIJQ8 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GqEr5TOIJQ8 Edit: Even better images in the few first seconds of this Der Spiegel video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apsBtgdhRfA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apsBtgdhRfA Or this Reuters video: https://www.reuters.com/video/watch/idOV893521032023RP1 https://www.reuters.com/video/watch/idOV893521032023RP1 Or this New York Post article: https://nypost.com/2023/03/22/german-brewery-creates-powdered-beer/ https://nypost.com/2023/03/22/german-brewery-creates-powdere...
- TaylorAlexander 4y ago
  Amazing!
  - dontbesquare 4y ago
    I've worked at breweries in the past and they used all sorts of computer generated imagery for products. They had me fooled too. Don't feel bad for being mistaken.
- amelius 4y ago
  Very nice!
blatant303 4y ago
Anger, denial, resignation
drited 4y ago
I had the opposite impression. I thought it helped to visualise the product, brings down the cost of the article and was clearly highlighted so it's not like they were trying to hide it. For a small article like this it would seem so wasteful to send a human out to do the job.
- helsinkiandrew 4y ago
  > I thought it helped to visualise the product, brings down the cost of the article. Does it though? First thing I thought when I opened the page and saw that image was that the granules looked quote large and that it would take some effort to make them dissolve nicely. Why have an photo realistic image if its not an actual photo, that might or might not missrepresent the product. Why not take the bring the cost down to its logical conclusion and have AI write the story from the press release and other content on the internet?
- camillomiller 4y ago
  Pictures in journalism are information, just organized differently than text. If you use a random generated image that “mimics” that information you are effectively doing misinformation or even disinformation. No picture (or a generic picture of the monastery) would have been better in terms of information content. This publication decided to go for a subpar solution because it’s what? Cool to some?. Even worse: actual images were available.
- garbagewoman 4y ago
  [flagged]
- Karliss 4y ago
  Having it written in smaller, harder to read font and positioning in the place that would typically contain photographers name which everyone usually ignores is opposite of highlighting. If it was used to replace generic stock image with beer, I might be fine with it. As an illustration generic picture of beer cup without powder or branded packaging would have been sufficient. But being so specific it contains fake brand, powder makes it seem like it represents the actual product thus giving a misleading impression about the structure of powder and it's capabilities to produce foam.
camillomiller 4y ago
This is honestly idiotic and disqualifies the entire article
dogma1138 4y ago
I have a feeling that the entire article is AI generated since it gets things wrong, there are no monks it’s just a regular brewery it’s called a Cloister Brewery because it’s located at the site of a 12th century Catholic cloister, Neuzelle is also nowhere near Munich.
- mortenjorck 4y ago
  Wow, with this context, some of the article certainly reads like LLM hallucination.
BurningPenguin 4y ago
They didn't even get the places right. Neuzelle isn't anywhere near Munich. It's not even in the same state. It is on the other side of the country, near Berlin.
- hef19898 4y ago
  So, they insulted Bavarians and Berliners at the same time?
madsbuch 4y ago
The images in the article are misleading and tangentially misinformation. If you casually skim the article, you could be led to believe, that this is a real brand. Definitely not proper journalism. So I agree with this sentiment in this instance.
qwerty456127 4y ago
What you wrote makes a huge lot of sense. Nevertheless the picture they used probably is much more selling. It just looks tasty and makes me want to take a gulp while real story-relevant pictures you describe probably wouldn't be nearly as appetizing.
- DamnInteresting 4y ago
  It's like the use of those delicately constructed examples of burgers and sandwiches used in restaurant commercials--it may be appetizing, but it fails to represent the reality of the product we are being sold. This is one (or more) steps further removed from reality. It's misleading, and the image captions merely reduce the severity of the deception.
fgrsnau 4y ago
Without your comment I would have discarded the whole article as AI generated. If the images are obviously fake, why should I trust the text?
- Semaphor 4y ago
  As you'll see from other comments, it is. Mostly true, but all the details are wrong. It's pretty sad to see such a spam post on the front page.
Mizoguchi 4y ago
A photograph of an event can be very misleading and more often than not it actually is. Take for example Elliott Erwitt's iconic image of Nixon pointing his finger at Khrushchev when debating about... cabbage soup vs meat! It's a powerful image that got completely misinterpreted to the point that helped Nixon become president of the US.
- TaylorAlexander 4y ago
  Absolutely true, but this seems like a new level of misleading. For example, the newspaper I worked for did not allow any kind of photoshop alteration to the photos beyond lighting adjustments. The photo is meant to show reality even if it is not photogenic. This can still be manipulated through framing as you point out, but there are limits which this new technique blows right past.
pyuser583 4y ago
They very clearly labeled it as AI generates and “purely speculative.” With that amount of transparency, I have no problems. It’s like a drawing.
- TaylorAlexander 4y ago
  For people who just scan the article, they aren't going to notice that its labeled as such. People subconsciously absorb a lot of information and that's what I am concerned would happen with this kind of thing.
jollyllama 4y ago
Yes, indeed, it's ridiculous. The shift from journalism to content made manifest.

schroeding 4y ago

The worst thing is that they are wrong. There are images. Here is a video from the German public broadcaster RBB: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GqEr5TOIJQ8 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GqEr5TOIJQ8 Edit: Even better images in the few first seconds of this Der Spiegel video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apsBtgdhRfA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apsBtgdhRfA Or this Reuters video: https://www.reuters.com/video/watch/idOV893521032023RP1 https://www.reuters.com/video/watch/idOV893521032023RP1 Or this New York Post article: https://nypost.com/2023/03/22/german-brewery-creates-powdered-beer/ https://nypost.com/2023/03/22/german-brewery-creates-powdere...

TaylorAlexander 4y ago
Amazing!
- dontbesquare 4y ago
  I've worked at breweries in the past and they used all sorts of computer generated imagery for products. They had me fooled too. Don't feel bad for being mistaken.
amelius 4y ago
Very nice!

blatant303 4y ago

Anger, denial, resignation

drited 4y ago

I had the opposite impression. I thought it helped to visualise the product, brings down the cost of the article and was clearly highlighted so it's not like they were trying to hide it. For a small article like this it would seem so wasteful to send a human out to do the job.

helsinkiandrew 4y ago
> I thought it helped to visualise the product, brings down the cost of the article. Does it though? First thing I thought when I opened the page and saw that image was that the granules looked quote large and that it would take some effort to make them dissolve nicely. Why have an photo realistic image if its not an actual photo, that might or might not missrepresent the product. Why not take the bring the cost down to its logical conclusion and have AI write the story from the press release and other content on the internet?
camillomiller 4y ago
Pictures in journalism are information, just organized differently than text. If you use a random generated image that “mimics” that information you are effectively doing misinformation or even disinformation. No picture (or a generic picture of the monastery) would have been better in terms of information content. This publication decided to go for a subpar solution because it’s what? Cool to some?. Even worse: actual images were available.
garbagewoman 4y ago
[flagged]
Karliss 4y ago
Having it written in smaller, harder to read font and positioning in the place that would typically contain photographers name which everyone usually ignores is opposite of highlighting. If it was used to replace generic stock image with beer, I might be fine with it. As an illustration generic picture of beer cup without powder or branded packaging would have been sufficient. But being so specific it contains fake brand, powder makes it seem like it represents the actual product thus giving a misleading impression about the structure of powder and it's capabilities to produce foam.

camillomiller 4y ago

This is honestly idiotic and disqualifies the entire article

dogma1138 4y ago

I have a feeling that the entire article is AI generated since it gets things wrong, there are no monks it’s just a regular brewery it’s called a Cloister Brewery because it’s located at the site of a 12th century Catholic cloister, Neuzelle is also nowhere near Munich.

mortenjorck 4y ago
Wow, with this context, some of the article certainly reads like LLM hallucination.

BurningPenguin 4y ago

They didn't even get the places right. Neuzelle isn't anywhere near Munich. It's not even in the same state. It is on the other side of the country, near Berlin.

hef19898 4y ago
So, they insulted Bavarians and Berliners at the same time?

madsbuch 4y ago

The images in the article are misleading and tangentially misinformation. If you casually skim the article, you could be led to believe, that this is a real brand. Definitely not proper journalism. So I agree with this sentiment in this instance.

qwerty456127 4y ago

What you wrote makes a huge lot of sense. Nevertheless the picture they used probably is much more selling. It just looks tasty and makes me want to take a gulp while real story-relevant pictures you describe probably wouldn't be nearly as appetizing.

DamnInteresting 4y ago
It's like the use of those delicately constructed examples of burgers and sandwiches used in restaurant commercials--it may be appetizing, but it fails to represent the reality of the product we are being sold. This is one (or more) steps further removed from reality. It's misleading, and the image captions merely reduce the severity of the deception.

fgrsnau 4y ago

Without your comment I would have discarded the whole article as AI generated. If the images are obviously fake, why should I trust the text?

Semaphor 4y ago
As you'll see from other comments, it is. Mostly true, but all the details are wrong. It's pretty sad to see such a spam post on the front page.

Mizoguchi 4y ago

A photograph of an event can be very misleading and more often than not it actually is. Take for example Elliott Erwitt's iconic image of Nixon pointing his finger at Khrushchev when debating about... cabbage soup vs meat! It's a powerful image that got completely misinterpreted to the point that helped Nixon become president of the US.

TaylorAlexander 4y ago
Absolutely true, but this seems like a new level of misleading. For example, the newspaper I worked for did not allow any kind of photoshop alteration to the photos beyond lighting adjustments. The photo is meant to show reality even if it is not photogenic. This can still be manipulated through framing as you point out, but there are limits which this new technique blows right past.

pyuser583 4y ago

They very clearly labeled it as AI generates and “purely speculative.” With that amount of transparency, I have no problems. It’s like a drawing.

TaylorAlexander 4y ago
For people who just scan the article, they aren't going to notice that its labeled as such. People subconsciously absorb a lot of information and that's what I am concerned would happen with this kind of thing.

jollyllama 4y ago

Yes, indeed, it's ridiculous. The shift from journalism to content made manifest.