AI fakes falsely counted Tacloban shooting survivor among dead

AI fakes falsely counted Tacloban shooting survivor among dead MANILA, Philippines — The sister of one of the victims of the Tacloban school shooting pleaded with the public to stop spreading AI-manipulated images that falsely counted her brother among the dead. Janica Mae Bituin, whose younger brother Jerick was shot and wounded in the June 22 school shooting, said people on social media had spread false claims that he had been killed and had used artificial intelligence to alter his photo to place him among the dead. "There are people on social media making fake news that my brother died, and they used AI on his picture, including him among those who died," Bituin said in Filipino. "They spread it, especially some content creators — they made that kind of thing into content." Bituin was one of the relatives invited to testify Wednesday, July 1, at the Senate committee on women and children's hearing into the June 22 attack at San Jose National High School, which killed three students and wounded 20 others, including Jerick. Bituin raised the AI fakes as part of a broader plea for justice for the victims of the June 22 attack. "I just want to say that I hope justice is given to the victims, especially those who were killed," she said in mixed. "And I hope being a minor does not become an obstacle to being jailed, because it seems unfair that it just ends like this." 'This is not content' Bituin also described how her brother was treated in the moments after he was shot. As he was carried bleeding from the school, bystanders filmed him instead of helping, she said. A shop owner had first turned the group away, and it was a stranger who finally intervened to assist Jerick. "There was a woman who passed by on a motorcycle, and she immediately put him on the motorcycle and took him to the hospital," Bituin said. When she asked Jerick whether anyone had helped him: "He said there was no one, because the people were just taking video," Bituin recounted. Sen. Risa Hontiveros, chair of the committee, expressed her frustration with the delay in helping the victim. "When there is a tragedy like that, help first before video," she said in Filipino. "Real life first before the virtual." Jerick was shot in the back by one of the two suspects, whom Bituin had described as one of his best friends. The two teenage suspects, aged 14 and 15, are currently in custody. The Senate hearing was called to examine gun access, the police response to the attack and how online platforms may be used to groom and radicalize children. - Latest - Trending