People Noticed Something Very Strange About This New "Photo" of Kate Middleton – Futurism

Early Sunday morning, princess of Wales Kate Middletonshared a seemingly harmless Mother's Day photo of her surrounded by her three children on Instagram.

What she likely didn't expect was the ensuing media chaos following the widespread dissemination of the image across the media.

Shortly after the image started circulating online, some of those same agencies, as well as news outlets including the New York Times and the Washington Post, took the image down.

Why? The image was more than likely manipulated, as the Associated Press warned in a rare "kill notification."

In a subsequent post explaining its decision, the APsaid the image didn't meet its "editorial standards" which "state that the image must be accurate."

The bizarre incident highlights just how primed we've become to notice inconsistencies in photos posted on social media. Especially since AI-powered photo editing tools have become widely accessible, and the lines continue to blur between real and entirely made-up images and even video, netizens have seemingly become extremely wary of manipulation of any kind.

And that's a potentially dangerous, double-edged sword. On one hand, calling out when an image was manipulated, and holding those who try to mislead the public accountable for their actions, is as important as ever.

On the other hand, there's the danger of having this innate skepticism crossing the threshold into cynicism and conspiracy, further eroding our already tenuous connection to what is real and what was manipulated.

The Middleton Mother's Day affair arguably falls somewhere in the middle.

There's compounding evidence that the image itself, which made the cover of several daily newspapers and tabloids in the UK on Sunday, was indeed manipulated. As the Independent reports, the photo's metadata showed that it was saved in Adobe Photoshop twice on Friday and Saturday, though it's unclear if the software's AI tools were used.

Small but glaring inconsistencies were evident across the image, from a strange, shoddily edited skirt and sleeve belonging to Middleton's daughter, to a strangely blurred-out hand.

Others speculated that Middleton's face and hair were pasted into the middle and a body double took her place in the original photograph. Middleton is recovering from serious abdominal surgery and may not have been able to sit upright for the image or at least for very long. Another possibility is that her face and hair were pasted in from a different photo from the same shoot.

Some users even went as far as to argue that the image was taken four months ago during a well-publicized media event but was edited to show them in different outfits.

On Monday, the princess apologized for the gaffe.

"Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing," she wrote in an Instagram post. "I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused."

Regardless of intent or who edited the photo, the fact that several news agencies took the image down following its dissemination is fascinating in and of itself.

Where do we draw the line when it comes to manipulated images? Are "yassified" faces okay? What about composites?

And where does all this fall when it comes to AI? We've already come across several instances of entirely AI-generated images making their rounds on social media. Last year, Adobe was even caught selling the rights to AI-generated images of the Israel-Hamas war.

In August, the AP saidthat despite its licensing agreement with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, "we do not see AI as a replacement for journalism in any way" and that it doesn't "allow the use of generative AI to add or subtract any elements" to photos, video, or audio.

"We will refrain from transmitting any AI-generated images that are suspected or proven to be false depictions of reality," the note reads.

AI or not, Middleton's Mother's Day post has turned into an "inexplicable mess," as Wired put it, highlighting how quickly an otherwise harmless post can balloon into a media circus and lead to the dissemination of conspiracy theories on social media.

As the AP suggested, "efforts to tamp down rumors and supposition may have backfired after royal observers noticed inconsistencies in the photos details."

However, Kensington Palace is sticking to its guns and has refused to reveal the original, unedited photo.

"Weve seen the madness of social media and that is not going to change our strategy," royal aides told UK tabloid The Sun. "There has been much on social media but the princess has a right to privacy and asks the public to respect that."

More on photo editing: Wikipedia No Longer Considers CNET a "Generally Reliable" Source After AI Scandal

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People Noticed Something Very Strange About This New "Photo" of Kate Middleton - Futurism

Seattle’s Pioneer Square Labs and Silicon Valley stalwart Mayfield form AI co-investing partnership – GeekWire

Navin Chaddha (left), managing partner at Mayfield, and Greg Gottesman, managing director at Pioneer Square Labs. (Mayfield and PSL Photos)

Seattle startup studio Pioneer Square Labs (PSL) and esteemed Silicon Valley venture capital firm Mayfield are teaming up to fund the next generation of AI-focused startups.

The partnership combines the startup incubation prowess of PSL, a 9-year-old studio that helps get companies off the ground, with Mayfield, a Menlo Park fixture founded in 1969 that has stalwarts such as Lyft, HashiCorp, ServiceMax and others in its portfolio.

As part of the agreement, PSL spinouts focused on AI-related technology will get a minimum of $1.5 million in seed funding from PSLs venture arm (PSL Ventures) and Mayfield.

Weve really been focusing a lot of our efforts on building defensible new AI-based technology companies and found a partner who feels very similarly and has incredible talent, resources, and thought leadership around this area, said PSL Managing Director Greg Gottesman.

Navin Chaddha, managing partner at Mayfield, described the partnership as very complimentary. PSL specializes in testing new ideas before spinning out startups. Mayfield steps in when companies are ready to raise a venture round and at later stages.

They have strengths, we have strengths, Chaddha said.

Its a bet by both firms on the promise of AI technology and startup creation.

Its a once-in-a-lifetime transformational opportunity in the tech industry, Chaddha said.

Mayfield last year launched a $250 million fund dedicated to AI. Chaddha published a blog post last month about what Mayfield describes as the AI cognitive plumbing layer, where the picks and shovels infrastructure companies of the AI industry reside.

Theres so much infrastructure to be built, Chaddha said. He added that the applications enabled by new AI technologies such as generative AI are endless.

Gottesman, who helped launch PSL in 2015 after a long stint with Seattle venture firm Madrona, said more than 60% of code written at PSL is now completed by AI a stark difference from just a year ago.

Its not that we have humans writing less code were just moving faster, Gottesman said.

The $1.5 million seed investments are a minimum;PSL and Mayfield are open to partnering with other investors and firms. The Richard King Mellon Foundation is also participating in the partnership.

The deal marks the latest connection point between the Seattle and Silicon Valley tech ecosystems.

Madrona, Seattles oldest and largest venture capital firm, opened a new Bay Area office in 2022 and hired a local managing director.

Bay Area investors have increasingly invested in Seattle-area startups including Mayfield, which has backed Outreach, Skilljar, SeekOut, Revefi, and others in the region. The firm was an early investor in Concur, the travel expense giant that went public in 1998.

Chaddha previously lived in the Seattle area after Microsoft acquired his streaming media startup VXtreme in 1997. He spent a few years at the Redmond tech giant, working alongside Satya Nadella who later went on to become CEO.

I think its fantastic that Mayfield is making a commitment not just to AI, but also to the Seattle area as well, said Gottesman.

PSL raised $20 million third fund last year to support its studio, which has spun out more than 35 companies including Boundless, Recurrent, SingleFile, and others. Job postings show new company ideas related to automation around hardware development and workflow operations for go-to-market execs. The PSL Ventures fundraised$100 million in 2021.

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Seattle's Pioneer Square Labs and Silicon Valley stalwart Mayfield form AI co-investing partnership - GeekWire

Populist gegenpressing: Why the EU shouldn’t expect Orban to back off – European Council on Foreign Relations

Just as football tactics undergo periodic reimaginings, it seems a similar trend is emerging in Hungarian politics. Before the 2019 European Parliament elections, Hungary was flooded with anti-Brussels posters featuring philanthropist George Soros, peering over the shoulder of then-European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. You have the right to know what Brussels is up to, noted the slogan. Now a fresh batch of posters has appeared, with current commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, accompanied by Soross son Alexander. The colour photos of 2019 have given way to von der Leyen and Soros in black and white, their expressions sombre, which creates an atmosphere of foreboding. The slogan is sharper and less defensive: Lets not dance to their tune, it urges.

This is in keeping with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbans strategic playbook. The poster campaigns combative and provocative style stands out within the consensus-seeking European Union. But Orban has preferred continuous attack throughout his career. Indeed, when he was re-elected as leader of the Fidesz party in November, a position he has held since 2003, he quoted a former coach of Hungarys parliamentary football team. That coach had once selected only strikers for the starting lineup, prompting Orban to ask who would defend. The coach responded, the opponent. This aphorism perfectly reflects Orbans political creed and what the EU can expect from him in the future.

Images of generations of the Soros family standing behind European Commission presidents support Orbans narrative that the EU is weak, partly because so the propaganda suggests it is controlled by a liberal speculator. In explaining this narrative, it is useful to draw a conceptual distinction. The cold-war era of state socialism saw official rhetoric differentiate between the construction of socialism and actually existing socialism. In the case of todays populist governance, it is advisable to draw a line between the construction of populism and actually existing populism, the latter being where the system is established and structures have taken flight and stabilised.

Across Europe, leaders from Poland to Italy have tried to construct populist systems; but only Orbans Hungary has reached the stage of actually existing populism. Paradoxically, it has achieved this with the EUs support. And, alongside Orbans attack-mindedness, actually existing populism can help explain why the hate ritual by poster is becoming a tradition. It can also shed light on why Orban insists on counter-pressing the EU, when another theme in his propaganda is: we are waiting for the money that Brussels owes us.

Across Europe, leaders from Poland to Italy have tried to construct populist systems; but only Orbans Hungary has reached the stage of actually existing populism

Firstly, there are structural reasons. Anti-elite sentiment is often a key feature of populism. However, in the context of populism in Hungary, where Orban has won elections with a two-thirds majority four times in a row, this sentiment could be problematic. That is, Hungarys political and economic elite is Orbans direct creation. To channel anti-elite anger, he therefore needs external actors such as the EU and Soros to blame for the countrys problems. Take Hungarys record inflation, expected to average 18.4 per cent for 2023,compared to the 5.6 per cent projection for the eurozone. Orbans propaganda claims that Brussels misguided sanctions against Russia are responsible for this, and he reinforces that message in another poster campaign.

The second reason is ideological. Orbans political success appears to have convinced him that his worldview is not only right for Hungary, but also for the rest of Europe. In this view, the EU in its present form poses a threat to Hungarys sovereignty hence Lets not dance to their tune. For him, the EU is a weak, decadent, multicultural, and ethnically diverse system on the verge of collapse. This is because the mainstream parties pursue a liberal-leftist or in Orbans vocabulary, communist agenda; while, as he put it recently: the French, Germans, Italians, and Austrians would give half their lives if they could have migrant-free countries again. So, Hungarys current interests may still favour EU membership, but Orban envisions a radical transformation of the bloc to align with his worldview.

This is all part of a larger game. Orban currently refuses to even entertain talks on Ukraines EU accession as part of the agenda at this months European Council meeting. It remains unclear whether he is attempting to build a stronger bargaining position or will hold firm on this stance. What is certain, however, is that the gegenpressing strategy is working to some extent: the European Commission could be about to release 10 billion from Hungarys blocked cohesion funds, which it had withheld due to concerns about the rule of law. It would be ironic if this support arrives from Brussels just as anti-EU posters again appear all over the streets of Budapest.

The European Council on Foreign Relations does not take collective positions. ECFR publications only represent the views of their individual authors.

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Populist gegenpressing: Why the EU shouldn't expect Orban to back off - European Council on Foreign Relations