Suspected Murderer Featured in E-commerce Giant's Ad

Luigi Mangione has been charged with a high-profile CEO murder. Now, a manipulated image of the suspected murderer has been used in an advertisement on the Chinese e-commerce giant Shein's website. Shein has initiated an investigation into the incident, reports BBC.

On December 4 last year, Brian Thompson, CEO of the health insurance company United Healthcare, was shot dead outside a hotel in New York. The 27-year-old Luigi Mangione has been charged with Thompson's murder and faces life imprisonment if convicted.

The Chinese e-commerce giant Shein has now launched an investigation after a manipulated image appearing to show Mangione was used on the company's site to advertise a shirt.

"The image in question was provided by a third-party supplier and was removed immediately when we discovered it," a spokesperson for Shein told BBC.

The company has initiated an investigation into the incident.

"We are strengthening our monitoring processes and will take appropriate action against the supplier in accordance with our guidelines," the spokesperson said.

Expert's Theory: Created with AI

It is unclear how long the image was on Shein's site and how the image was produced.

When BBC used a facial recognition tool, they found a 99.9% similarity between the fake image and a real photo of Mangione in court.

"There are some signs that the image may be AI-generated or manipulated. This includes the lighting and texture in the image, especially on the skin, as well as the presence of something 'blob-like' above the right forearm. The right hand also does not appear to show the typical separation of fingers," said AI expert Henry Ajder.

AI researcher Henk van Ess told BBC that, in his opinion, the most likely scenario is that the image was created using AI.