TLDR: A growing trend sees AI-generated images depicting starving children and other vulnerable populations being used by some charities and scammers for fundraising, sparking significant ethical debates and warnings from authorities about potential deception.
The proliferation of AI-generated images depicting starving children, refugees, and victims of conflict is raising serious ethical questions within the humanitarian and fundraising sectors. Recent research by Dr. Arsenii Alenichev at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp has uncovered a vast collection of such pictures and video clips available for sale online. These images, often labeled as AI-generated, are being used to create what some are calling ‘poverty porn,’ a practice that exploits suffering for emotional manipulation.
While some organizations, like WWF, have used AI for campaigns with clear disclaimers, the widespread availability of these images on stock photo websites, featuring scenes like ‘Asian children’ in rivers of waste or skeletal infants, is alarming. Critics argue that these AI-generated visuals often perpetuate harmful stereotypes and can contain illogical elements, such as a ‘war-torn Africa’ scene featuring a perfectly intact cafe. As AI technology advances, the distinction between real and fake imagery will become increasingly difficult, amplifying the temptation for their unethical use.
The ethical debate extends to legitimate charities exploring AI’s potential. Charity Right, a British organization providing school meals, conducted an A/B split test in 2023 comparing AI-generated images with real photographs in their online fundraising campaigns. The results indicated that AI images produced almost identical donation rates to real images, offering significant cost savings. However, sharing these findings publicly ignited a debate, with some praising the cost-efficiency and others condemning the practice as dishonest and unethical.
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Authorities are also issuing warnings about the malicious use of AI. Cambodian authorities, for instance, have cautioned the public about increasing online scams that leverage AI-generated images of orphaned children or grieving families, often accompanied by QR codes, to solicit fraudulent donations. These incidents underscore the critical need for donors to verify the authenticity of fundraising campaigns and the organizations behind them to avoid falling victim to AI-powered fraud.
