Russian court fines woman over fake bear photo

A Russian court has fined a woman 15,000 rubles ($179) for using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate a photograph of a bear that frightened residents of her town, as Russia faces an influx of bears and multiple attacks on people have been reported, EFE reported.

According to a statement published on Telegram by the press service of the courts in the Amur region, a magistrate in the Magdaganinsky judicial district fined the woman for posting a photograph of the AI-generated bear on social media, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

The image frightened the woman's neighbours, who called the local police for help.

Court documents indicate that in September, the woman, who lives in the small town of Magdagachi, wanted to play a prank on her friend. Using ChatGPT's neural network, she generated a photograph of a bear wandering along a town street and sent it to her friend.

However, others took the prank seriously, and the image went viral, prompting numerous calls to the police for help.

One local resident commented that, after seeing the photograph circulating throughout the day, she did not dare leave her home to go shopping.

The information reached local authorities, who in turn called in hunters and specialists to search for the animal.

Following the incident, the woman contacted the police and admitted that the photograph had been generated using AI. During the trial, she accepted responsibility and expressed remorse, explaining that she had intended only to make a joke.

The court considered her admission and remorse mitigating factors, significantly reducing the fine, which is set by law at 30,000 rubles ($358). It also decided not to confiscate the mobile phone she had used to generate the image.

The incident has taken on particular significance amid the large number of encounters between bears and humans during the latest season, which have resulted in at least 26 deaths since March. The Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk regions have been the hardest hit, with seven fatalities each.

In response, Russian authorities launched a bear hunt earlier this month, during which 982 animals were killed in Krasnoyarsk alone.

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