Russian woman uses AI photo to prank friend, gets fined for setting off bear alarm

A court in Russia's Far East has fined a woman 15,000 roubles ($178) after an artificial intelligence-generated image of a brown bear, created as a prank, spread through messaging apps, alarmed residents and prompted officials to launch a search for the animal.The incident comes as Russian authorities remain on high alert following deadly bear attacks in several regions. At least 26 people have been killed in such attacks since spring, while the country's brown bear population has more than doubled over the past 30 years to 308,000.The woman, a resident of the Magdagachi settlement in the Amur region, used ChatGPT to create an image that appeared to show a large brown bear walking along a local street. She sent the picture to a friend in September as a joke, but it was subsequently shared widely.“The joke quickly got out of control. The photograph of the bear spread through messaging apps, and police began receiving alarmed calls from residents,” the Amur courts' press service said in a statement. The head of the district then sent wildlife rangers to search for the animal, which did not exist. The woman later called the police and admitted that she had created the image. A court ordered her this week to pay the fine of 15,000 roubles.It was the second such case reported in Russia within a few weeks. In mid-September, another woman in the eastern Transbaikal region was fined 30,000 roubles for posting a fake image of a bear in a village, according to Russian legal news agency RAPSI. The false images emerged amid concern over actual encounters between bears and people. Experts said growing bear populations and a poor harvest of berries and pine nuts had increased the likelihood of such encounters. Hungry bears typically emerge from hibernation in spring, and news agency RIA Novosti reported that at least 26 people had been killed in bear attacks since then.The Russian government said last month that it was preparing urgent measures to control the brown bear population. The number of brown bears has risen to 308,000, partly because of shorter and milder winters. More than 3,440 bears deemed to pose a threat to humans have been killed since the beginning of the year, according to a tally published by state news agency TASS on October 10.The Magdagachi prank therefore led to alarmed calls, a search by wildlife rangers and a 15,000-rouble fine. It also followed a similar 30,000-rouble penalty in Transbaikal as authorities responded to false bear sightings while dealing with deadly attacks and a growing bear population.- Ends