Politician suspended after ‘utilizing AI’ to boost suspiciously glam candidate pic
A politician, 59, has been expelled from her party after a “retouched” campaign photo sparked AI claims; she insists she only boosted resolution and blames medication for changes
Patricia Reichman denied using AI(Image: rotterdam.nl)
A conservative politician has denied using AI to touch up her campaign photo and insisted: “I just look young for my age.” Right-wing Patricia Reichman, 59, was suspended after side-by-side photographs appeared to show a retouched version of herself.
She denied using AI to create a youthful-looking campaign image after a local newspaper ran a photo that looked markedly different from her official candidate portrait. Reichman, who has won a council seat representing a neighbourhood in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, said the image had simply been processed to improve quality.
She told local newspaper Algemeen Dagblad: “The photo in the neighbourhood paper was of too low a resolution, so I ran it through an online tool to boost the pixel count.”
She added: “It really is my photo; that really is me. I look a bit different at the moment, but that is due to medication I’m taking. That will be ending soon.”
Reichman reportedly acknowledged the picture made her look younger, but insisted people often mistake her for being far below her age.
She told AD: “When I’m out and about with my son, people often assume I’m his girlfriend. hear it all the time, that I look remarkably young for my age.”
The row later widened after AD reported that Reichman does not live in the neighbourhood that elected her, though she insists she does and says she has two residences.
Her party, Leefbaar Rotterdam, said it is expelling her, arguing the image was misleading. “The photo has clearly been heavily edited with AI and is not a realistic representation,” it said.
It further stated: “We wish to emphasise that this edited photo was not used in campaign materials by Leefbaar Rotterdam or in publications by the Municipality of Rotterdam. They sent this photo exclusively to the neighbourhood newspaper, in a personal capacity.”
The party said it asked her to give up her seat but she refused, and concluded: “When the information provided during the job interview proves not to correspond with reality, there is no basis of trust to continue working together.” Despite Reichman’s insistence that she only used software to improve resolution, the image has fuelled speculation it may have been generated or altered using AI tools that can produce a new, heavily “beautified” version of an original photograph.
The suspiciously glamorous snap ignited excited reactions on social media.
An X user commented: “The funniest thing about boomers using ai is they think no one can notice and they’re tricking everyone. ‘Here’s a photo that I took’ no its not little miss sneaky.”
Someone else penned: “I can only imagine what the medication is for.” A separate individual chimed in: “She’s already gaslighting everyone like a true politician.”
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