NTNU professor believes Princess Kate is a victim of artificial intelligence

Theories abound about Kate Middleton and where she went. Now an NTNU professor has launched his own conspiracy theory.

Since Princess Kate has been out of the public eye since the New Year, following what was presumed to be gastric bypass surgery, many people have asked questions about her whereabouts. Among the theories circulating on social media are that Prince William has been unfaithful, that she is in a coma, or that she has died.

In the wake of all the rumors and speculation about Princess Kate's whereabouts, Kensington Palace released a photo of Kate and her children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis on Britain's Mother's Day, March 10.

The next day, the photo was pulled from major photo agencies like AP and AFP because the photo had been doctored. In a discussion post in the title However, Professor in the Department of Computer Technology and Informatics, Letizia Jaccheri, wrote that she did not believe the image had been doctored. On the other hand, you believe the entire image was generated by artificial intelligence (AI), and wonder why no one discusses whether the image was generated by AI.

– I don't think women understand artificial intelligence

What made the professor react was that the hands in the picture in particular seemed unnaturally long. It's a classic sign of the AI ​​generation.

-If the photo had only been edited, it wouldn't have looked like this. I immediately suspected that it was not human-made,” Jakiri tells Universitetsavisa.

She herself has produced portraits of Kate and her family for Open Art. However, the result looked much more like it was generated by artificial intelligence than the image broadcast from Kensington Palace.

-I used free software to get these images in seconds. There are now many programs that cost money that can create more realistic images. “Think about what I would achieve if I could spend a few days on it,” she says.

Kate is a victim of artificial intelligence

Jakiri says there is disagreement among colleagues in the computer technology and informatics department about whether the image was generated by artificial intelligence.

The same thing happens when there is a discussion about whether students have used AI in their assignments or not. It is not possible to automatically check whether something was generated by artificial intelligence.

In 2023, the Language Council voted “KI-generated” as the word of the year. Despite this, Jakiri believes we lack a language to talk about artificial intelligence. She believes this goes beyond women in particular.

Kate is an example of this. She is a victim of artificial intelligence.

Kate wrote in a statement on social media that she herself was behind the manipulation of her image.

-If she had an AI language, she might have told us how she used it.

-We've only seen the beginning

In his title, Jakiri wrote that there are a limited number of minds, mostly men and a few women, who have the privilege of shaping and understanding artificial intelligence. On the question of why AI is being discussed to some extent in relation to Kate's image, the professor wonders whether gender could play a role.

My conspiracy is that no one mentions AI because Kate's case is directed at women. I think there might be an assumption that those who are interested in Kate aren't interested in KI.

Therefore, she believes that it is important to focus on the importance of diversity in the development of artificial intelligence systems. “The creation of artificial intelligence systems could not have been allowed without women, without Norwegians, and without diversity,” she wrote in her article in Adressa. As a researcher, Jakiri wants to work harder to include women in AI development.

“We have only seen the beginning of what AI can be used for,” she says in conclusion.