Concern about AI stealing and replacing faces
A Christian group has apologised to a well-known Māori photographer for using a doctored image of his uncle in promotional material without his knowledge or consent – using artificial intelligence (AI).
The original photograph, taken by Te Rawhitiroa Bosch, was of his uncle Patrick Mohi as he laid a wero at a significant event.
Christian group The Hope Project issued edited it for a promotional booklet – digitally replacing Bosch’s uncle’s head with someone else’s.
The incident has called into question how AI and digital technologies are being used and what safeguards are in place to protect against misrepresentation of Māori.
Bosch took to social media, posting that the Hope Project felt “entitled to steal our Taonga Māori, our tuakiri Māori, our very identity and appropriate it to their ends”.
“What makes this even worse is the way we found out was by the flier being delivered to my bro Herora, who had to see, out of the blue, this image of his dad with his head replaced by some random, on a religious advertisement. Pōhauhau!”
Speaking to Stuff, Bosch said the photograph was taken some years ago on a whānau day at the taiaha wānanga on Mokoia Island.
“We just had a full week of training hundreds of boys and men in the art of mau rākau as a way of self development, as a way of instilling pride in their identity,” Bosch said. “Uncle Pat was the third kaiwero laying down the final taki to bring the manuhiri on to the island where the boys then stood and demonstrated what they had learned.”
He said it was a special process, representative of the lineage of the whānau, and the school, that he felt was important to capture.
“Each of those markings on his skin, each of those scars, each of those designs, is earned. They didn’t just fall out of nowhere. They have genealogy, they have connection,” he said. “Also for Māori, the head is tapu. So to whip someone’s head off, alter it and then use it to talk about their agenda, is so completely misappropriating the intent of that image and the kaupapa.”
Bosch’s social media post accompanied screenshots of the pamphlets and a response from The Hope Project, which said the images were from the public domain and therefore copyright didn’t apply. But following that post, Bosch said he was contacted by Hope Project co-ordinator Dave Mann, who apologised and showed a “genuine commitment” to making things right.
A public apology was then issued online from Mann.
Mann said the image was owned by Rawhitiroa Photography at the time. “To edit it, irrespective of intent, permissions would typically have been needed from the person whose image it was. This was a truly significant failure on our part ... We
are sorry to those we have hurt. We are sorry to the wider Christian community who we serve in our work as a Christian charity,” Mann said.
In an email to Stuff, he confirmed AI was involved.
Dr Karaitiana Taiuru, a Māori AI specialist and tech ethicist, said AI would continue to be regularly used because of the simplicity and accessibility of the technology.
“I suspect we’re going to see more deepfakes with videos and still images of our Māori politicians and anyone with a tā moko as they are high-value targets for the people who do this,” Taiuru said.
This comes after a painting was advertised depicting the likeness of former Newshub presenter Oriini Kaipara featuring Kaipara’s notable moko kauae also without her knowledge or consent.
Taiuru said conversations needed to be had at a national level about our copyright laws and the use of AI, as appropriation of people’s faces and art was becoming “more and more common”.
“Overseas we’re seeing fake images with AI being used for political campaigns and white supremacist groups mocking different ethnic people.”
He said there were few safeguards in place unless images were clearly watermarked or included a copyright statement. He also recommended using software such as Nightshade which prevented AI from using images.