“I am not AI:” elected Reform UK councilor denies rumor spread by Grok

George Boyd, a member of the Reform UK party, is a real human being, not an AI-generated person that solely exists in the digital world.

On Thursday, May 7th, Boyd participated in the local elections of the Waveney Valley Division of the Norfolk County Council. With 1,562 votes, he was elected as the newest Norfolk County councilor, located in the East of England.

For a while now, false claims have been going around that Boyd isn’t a real person, but rather an artificially generated individual.

“Boyd doesn’t look real in his photos;” “he looks like an AI creation;” “he is untraceable on social media.”

In short, he doesn’t exist. And AI chatbot Grok has been fueling these rumors by suggesting that his picture is “very likely to be AI-generated,” claiming that his hair and facial features are “groomed in a hyper-realistic but too perfect way.”

People have said all sorts of lies about George Boyd. However, the fact is that George Boyd does exist and is a real person.

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To verify his existence, Thomas Copeland from the BBC called him and asked him what it’s like to be considered an AI-generated person.

“I can’t meet every single person in the country, shake their hand, and say ‘Look, I’m a real person’,” he told the journalist.

The Reform UK party may have accidentally started the misinformation campaign about Boyd’s existence. The local branch told the BBC that they used AI on one of George’s pictures and flyers to change the background. Ever since, he’s been considered an AI creation.

Colin Sutton, Chairman of the Waveney Valley Reform UK branch, explained on X why AI was used on Boyd’s photo.

“As the person who posted that photo online, I can clear this up. I was responsible for drafting George’s election leaflets. He sent me the photo, which was him against a white background. As all the other leaflets in my constituency had a background, I used AI to create a countryside background, which was the photo used on his leaflet,” adding that some people lead perfectly normal lives without a social media presence.

This isn’t the first time AI has confused the election process. When Reform UK posted a picture of a campaign trail, it led to widespread claims that the photo was AI-generated. Instead, the party said it was an AI-enhanced version of a real photo.

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