Overview
- Fountain, Colorado, deployed 10 officers and several detectives on Oct. 15 after a mother reported an apparent intruder, only to learn her adult daughter had sent an AI-altered image as a prank.
- Departments from Massachusetts to Michigan and New York issued public advisories urging people to verify suspicious images with family before calling 911, citing wasted resources and safety risks.
- Salem, Massachusetts, notes state law allows up to two and a half years in prison for knowingly directing emergency services to a fake incident, and two juveniles in Brown County, Ohio, have been criminally charged in separate cases.
- Cybersecurity expert Greg Gogolin says producing convincing fakes is “frustratingly easy,” while Fountain police acknowledge they do not yet train officers to identify AI-generated images and plan to explore such training.
- TikTok said it added AI labels to some flagged videos, and police emphasize the stunt dehumanizes people experiencing homelessness and can escalate into dangerous confrontations.