{"id":458753,"date":"2026-02-04T22:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T22:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/458753\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T22:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T22:25:10","slug":"ironic-and-lazy-ai-generated-images-shared-on-queensland-government-department-social-media-accounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/458753\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Ironic’ and ‘lazy’ AI-generated images shared on Queensland government department social media accounts"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Queensland government department’s decision not to disclose its use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create social media posts has prompted warnings about the importance of transparency as the technology develops.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An illustration featuring a floating fishing rod and nonsensical text was posted on Fisheries Queensland’s social media accounts in a post warning about relying on information provided by AI.<\/p>\n

The caption read, “don’t trust AI for your fishing rules”.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An AI-generated image from the Fisheries Queensland\u2019s social media pages. (Supplied: Fisheries Queensland)<\/p>\n

Curtin University Internet studies professor Tama Leaver said the post was “ironic”<\/p>\n

“It was a post generated by AI about ‘don’t trust AI,” he said.<\/p>\n

The ABC has found that at least four posts from the Fisheries Queensland Instagram and Facebook pages were created using AI Image generators late last year.<\/p>\n

The department typically shares content about protecting the state’s fisheries resources to its audience of more than 143,000 followers across its Instagram and Facebook accounts.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Curtin University Internet studies professor Tama Leaver says it will become increasingly difficult to tell what is real and what is AI.\u00a0 (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

The posts that used AI-generated images discussed infringement notices issued, patrol operations and a recent court case.<\/p>\n

Two images returned a positive result for Google’s AI tools’ invisible watermark when tested with its Synth ID detector.<\/p>\n

The other images came back positive for showing several visual signs that “strongly suggest” they were generated by another AI tool, according to the detector.<\/p>\n

None of the four posts, either in the captions or alternative texts, disclosed that they had been created with an image generator.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An AI-generated image posted by Fisheries Queensland warning against crab pot theft. (Supplied: Fisheries Queensland)<\/p>\n

Mr Leaver, who is also a chief investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, said “it would be nice” for governments and public sectors to acknowledge the use of AI as it “will get increasingly difficult to tell” when it has been used.<\/p>\n

He said it was already so “trivially easy” to create cartoonish, representational, and photorealistic images with the technology.<\/p>\n

“We’re at a transitional moment where best practice, in an ideal sense, would be full transparency where AI has been used to generate images,” Mr Leaver said.<\/p>\n

“We’re not at the point where that is a legal requirement.”<\/p>\n

‘We have not received any concerns’<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Department of Primary Industries, which manages the Fisheries Queensland social media accounts, confirmed AI had been used to generate imagery for its channels.<\/p>\n

They said the content was created for “illustrative purposes, particularly where real images cannot be used due to privacy, legal or operational considerations”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

One of the social media posts created with AI from Fisheries Queensland. (Supplied: Fisheries Queensland)<\/p>\n

“We have not received any concerns suggesting that the images used on our social media channels were unclear or mistaken for real imagery, rather than AI-generated illustrations,” the spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The guidelines for Queensland government agencies on the use of generative AI state that the technology provides opportunities to enhance productivity, but recommend employees ensure AI-produced content is “clearly” identified.<\/p>\n

Primary Industries Minister Tony Perrett was also contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

Brisbane River bull shark video prompts AI speculation<\/a><\/p>\n

The video quickly garnered more than 700,000 views on social media and prompted speculation it was AI-generated.<\/p>\n

During the state election in 2024, the now-elected LNP government circulated an AI video of the Labor leader dancing on a TikTok.<\/p>\n

At the time, the party defended the use of the deepfake video, stating it was “clearly labelled as being created with AI”.<\/p>\n

Public expectation<\/p>\n

Marketing professor Paul Harrison said more government agencies across Australia were using AI for social media content.<\/p>\n

“They’re using it, because like all other organisations and sectors, they’re under pressure to be more efficient,” the Deakin University academic said.<\/p>\n

\"man<\/p>\n

Marketing Professor Dr Paul Harrison says the posts should be labelled as being generated by AI. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Dr Harrison said the public did have an expectation that agencies would “behave appropriately and be transparent”.<\/p>\n

He said the images on Fisheries Queensland’s social media accounts were “obviously generated by AI” and “they should be saying that”.<\/p>\n

Dr Harrison said that the moment people know something was made by AI, they respond negatively to it.<\/p>\n

But he said not disclosing the technology also created “another risk” with people asking, “Why didn’t you tell me that it was AI?”<\/p>\n

“If you’re not comfortable disclosing it then you should ask, ‘why I am not comfortable disclosing it?'” Dr Harrison said.<\/p>\n

He said from a marketing perspective, AI-generated images on social media were “not very good”.<\/p>\n

“Was this the most effective way to get people to take notice?”<\/p>\n

“The bottom line is that to me this seems lazy more than anything,” Dr Harrison said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Queensland government department’s decision not to disclose its use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create social media…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,2456,235992,23518,1202,99383,94,701,1314,105],"class_list":["post-458753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-facebook","tag-fisheries-department","tag-image","tag-instagram","tag-posts","tag-qld","tag-queensland","tag-social-media","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}