Journalists warned: never AI-enhance news photos, adjust brightness instead
ShakeelHashim · x · 2026-11-06
Journalist Olivia Reingold showed how she used ChatGPT to brighten and sharpen a street photo, arguing the image still shows "a real woman in Valentino shoes and a Chanel bag."
Fellow journalist Drew Harwell urged journalists to never do this: any phone has brightness/contrast settings that improve visibility without altering an image's details. AI processing rewrites pixels, distorting the very photo you're presenting to readers as real and true — fundamentally different from traditional adjustments.
Related event: Reporter's ChatGPT Photo Edit Sparks Authentiaty Debate and SynthID Doubts(8 posts)→
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