Did Mark Carney’s campaign use AI to boost crowd sizes? We investigated [Video]

In online posts that were collectively viewed hundreds of thousands of times, some social media users have claimed that a photo of a Mark Carney campaign event was AI-generated.

Several social media users claim the image, which shows an event held last week at the Pinnacle Hotel at the Pier in North Vancouver, was manipulated in order to create the impression that Carney was speaking in front of a larger crowd. Some users also relied on online AI detector tools that suggested the photo was created using artificial intelligence.

This isn’t the only claim that politicians have manipulated images — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been the subject of similar false claims in the past — and experts say the growing sophistication of AI is causing people to be increasingly skeptical of online images and video.

The CBC’s visual investigations team obtained the original Carney event image and found no evidence the shots were …