A Dutch court artist has received damages after an MP for the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) used one of her drawings without permission and manipulated it with AI to make the subjects look more menacing.<\/p>\n
Petra Urban, a court artist for 19 years, was shocked to discover a drawing she had made last year of two Syrian brothers jailed<\/a> for the murder of their sister had been reworked and used in a video on Instagram and Facebook by the party\u2019s Noord-Brabant region.<\/p>\n Petra Urban\u2019s court sketch of the Syrian brothers after it was altered using AI and posted online by the Noord-Brabant region of the PVV far-right party.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are three things that upset me,\u201d she said. \u201cOne is that my work was used without asking my permission. Secondly, this was done for a political party, when I want to work as neutrally and independently as possible. And thirdly \u2013 and this makes it really strange \u2013 the distortion was done with AI.\u201d<\/p>\n Under Dutch law, creators are not only protected by copyright but also have moral rights<\/a> to object to any distortion of their work that could harm their reputation. There was widespread shock in May after Urban shared the images with fellow court reporters, and the case had widespread press coverage<\/a>.<\/p>\n Urban said that after her union issued a legal demand for licensing rights and damages, the PVV MP Maikel Boon<\/a> called her to apologise and has now paid the damages \u2013 which have not been made public.<\/p>\n Since the MP had previously been accused of using AI<\/a> to manipulate images for campaign purposes, she felt \u201cno mercy<\/a>\u201d in demanding compensation. \u201cI hope it\u2019s clear that this is a worrying development and that we need to stay alert,\u201d she said. \u201cYou need to be able to assume that journalistic work is written, drawn, photographed or filmed as neutrally as possible. If this is manipulated, then the flood gates are open. There\u2019s no knowing where it will end.\u201d<\/p>\n She also distanced herself from the far-right party led by Geert Wilders<\/a>. \u201cHonestly, the PVV is a long way from my political views, but even if it had been closer to my own politics I would not have wanted this,\u201d she said. \u201cIt compromises my neutrality.\u201d<\/p>\n