WOMAN FINED FOR CAUSING PANIC WITH AI-GENERATED IMAGE OF BEAR

MAGDAGACHI, OCTOBER 14 /SRNA–Reuters/ - A woman from the settlement of Magdagachi in Russia's Far East has been fined 15,000 roubles /90 euros/ after an AI-generated image of a bear, which she created as a prank on a friend, caused widespread panic and triggered an actual search for the animal, the Amur Region Court said.

In September, she used the popular ChatGPT chatbot to generate an image of a large brown bear apparently walking down a local street, then sent it to her friend, the Amur Region Court’s press service said in a statement.

"The joke quickly got out of hand. The image of the bear spread through messaging apps, and police began receiving alarmed calls from residents. The district head sent gamekeepers and armed police officers to deal with the reported appearance of the animal," the press service said.

The woman contacted the police and admitted that she had created the image.

Russian authorities have been on high alert this year following a series of fatal bear attacks in several regions of Russia.

In response to the attacks, the Russian government said last month that it was preparing emergency measures to control the brown bear population, which has more than doubled over the past three decades to reach 308,000, partly due to shorter and milder winters.

Experts say that the growing bear population and poor yields of berries and nuts are increasing the likelihood of encounters between the animals and humans.

Since spring, when hungry bears emerge from hibernation, at least 26 people have been killed in bear attacks.