Police have admitted using AI to sharpen a photo of a stolen guitar, after the image sparked confusion over the instrument's true value.
By Melanie Earley of RNZ
On Wednesday, a photograph was posted to the North Shore, Rodney and West Auckland Police Facebook page, showing an officer and three workers at a music store holding a guitar that had apparently been recently recovered after being stolen more than three years ago.
The post claimed the guitar was a Fender electric valued at $4299, but in the image it appeared to be a Squier J Bass – which retailed at a much lower price.
Police had been alerted to a guitar with a matching serial number to the stolen guitar, listed on TradeMe in May. They were able to trace it back to the original person who took it.
But members of the public noticed the bass in the image posted was nowhere near the value of $4299, with one person commenting: "$4k for a Squier Bass... I've got a bridge I can sell you, real cheap".
"That's a Squire, only worth $600," commented another.
When RNZ called the Takapuna store, the manager said the stolen guitar was a Fender Jazz American Bass, and the police had used AI to alter the photo.
He said, when he asked the police what happened, he was told the bass looked "too blurry" so they had used AI to try and make it look better – and it had added the Squier logo.
The manager said the guitar was in pretty good condition and, now it had been returned would be re-sold, but at a much lower price.
After RNZ sent questions to police about the photograph, it was deleted from their social media.
According to police's acceptable use of generative AI policy, when using a genAI tool, police staff were meant to label the outputs as being AI generated, referencing the name of the tool, unless there was a clear operational reason to withhold the information.
"The label can vary to reflect the level of involvement of the genAI tool and the human," it said.
The policy went on to say it was important to be transparent about the use of generative AI to "help preserve the trust between the person writing/developing content and the audience".
In a statement to RNZ, police said the photograph was "genuine" but AI had been used.
"Unfortunately, a staff member used AI to enhance the focus of the photo.
"This goes against police processes and should not have happened. The post has been removed."
RNZ has asked for further clarification as to the extent of AI used as well as a copy of the original image.
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