AI-generated images falsely portray Discaya’s ‘smart city’

AI-generated images posted without context on Facebook have falsely implied that  Pasig mayoral candidate Sarah Discaya was proposing highly futuristic city projects, including a “New Pasig River” and “New Pasig Mega Market.”

Discaya, owner and general manager of the St. Gerard Construction Development Corp., is challenging incumbent Pasig City mayor Vico Sotto in a heated mayoral race.

On April 28 and 30, the satirical Facebook page Palengke uploaded the altered photos without any captions or disclaimers. 

One image featured an ultra-modern Pasig River lined with skyscrapers and lush promenades, while the other showed a sci-fi cityscape with flying cars labeled as Discaya’s proposed “mega market.” 

AI detection tool Slightengine said the Pasig River image was 99% likely AI-generated while Decopy AI gave it a 96.97% probability.

Meanwhile, a reverse Google image search traced the market design to an AI-generated photo to OpenArt, where it was originally uploaded by user @bear_productive_44.

Both images mimicked the branding elements in Discaya’s official campaign materials posted on April 26, including her signature watermark, layout, colors and photo.

Discaya has promised to transform Pasig into a “smart city” through infrastructure projects such as a city hospital, an 11-story university building and housing for informal settlers.

Since March 20, Palengke has been uploading similar altered content involving Discaya, some AI-generated, others lifted from other sources. The page’s first post about Discaya features her image superimposed on a screenshot from the video game “Command & Conquer,” while another post shows an AI-generated "New Pasig City Revolving Tower." 

While the Palengke page describes itself as a “satire” account in its bio, its posts do not contain indicators or labels clarifying the images’ satirical nature. Without this, some viewers might be misled, especially those unaware of the page’s satirical nature.

As of writing, the “mega market” post garnered 8,600 reactions, 320 comments and 3,700 shares, while the Pasig River image has 3,400 reactions, 100 comments and 1,300 shares. (ACS, AJM)