AI-Altered Images Spread Misinformation About Alex Pretti Shooting

AI-Enhanced Images and Misinformation

• 💡 An image of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse shot and killed by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis, has been altered with AI.
• 🎯 This altered image has led to claims on social media that Pretti was holding a gun or its magazine.
• 🔍 Digital forensics expert Hani Fared explains that AI enhancement can introduce inaccurate or non-existent details.

Evidence of Alteration

• ⚠️ A clear clue that the image is altered is the missing head of an officer kneeling next to Pretti.
• 📱 None of the bystander videos show Pretti brandishing a gun; they only show him holding a mobile phone.

Precedent of AI Misinformation

• 🎭 A similarly altered video screenshot spread misinformation after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
• 🚫 In that case, the altered image appeared to show the officer without a mask, but the original video never showed his face uncovered.