The dawning era of AI-generated content has far-reaching implications for everything from written work to photography, and 2023 has become the year of phoning it in with ChatGPT and AI image generators.

One Toronto mayoral candidate appears to have taken this AI outsourcing to new heights, building a campaign platform website populated entirely by what appear to be AI-generated images.

Actor-turned-author/columnist-turned-politician Anthony Furey has emerged as a top contender in the Toronto mayoral by-election with a platform firmly to the right of other front-runners that focuses on bolstering police, clearing encampments, and eliminating safe injection sites.

But it isn't his controversial stances on these key issues that has the internet abuzz this week. Instead, Furey's campaign is garnering attention over its perplexing use of what social media users claim is AI-generated imagery.

Toronto Star columnist Ben Spurr shared a detailed thread on Twitter exposing Furey's alleged use of fake photography, saying that it was a generic but impossible-to-place photo of what was purported to be a Toronto street that raised initial questions.

I was just going through Anthony Furey's campaign platform, which he released today, and something was bugging me about the photos in it. For instance, this looks like it could be a street downtown, but I can't quite place it... pic.twitter.com/drDonMP93N

— Ben Spurr (@BenSpurr) June 12, 2023

Images used by Furey's campaign platform seem to resemble Toronto, but Spurr and other social media users have noticed certain things are just a bit…off.

And this looks like it might be Trinity Bellwoods, but I don't recall that many tents being there, or them being spaced out like that... pic.twitter.com/6Te9YAZP40

— Ben Spurr (@BenSpurr) June 12, 2023

AI generation seems to do well when it comes to human faces, but it falls short in generating language or even accurate alphabetical characters.

And this one's definitely a little odd. The name tag the woman is wearing doesn't have real writing on it... pic.twitter.com/i0OtrTcoJc

— Ben Spurr (@BenSpurr) June 12, 2023

But if there's one department that AI imagery is well-known for its shortcomings, it is human arms and hands — often generating extra digits, or in this case, even entire limbs.

But this one's the clincher. The woman on the left has three arms!! Looks very much like the campaign used AI to generate these. The tech still isn't perfect, it seems. pic.twitter.com/LDvejT0ZXm

— Ben Spurr (@BenSpurr) June 12, 2023

Social media users are trolling the candidate's use of nonexistent models and city locales, and a few have even come up with their own AI-generated responses to the AI-illustrated campaign.

Hi @anthonyfurey I made you lawn signs pic.twitter.com/YaWsP4ADnN

— Dafydd Hughes (@dafydd61) June 12, 2023

Another user made use of Chat GPT to forge a fake apology on behalf of Furey's campaign.

ChatGPT has supplied me with a press release from Anthony Furey’s mayoral campaign apologizing for use of AI generate photos in campaign materials.

“I am committed to transparency and ensuring the highest ethical standards in my campaign,” stated a bot pretending to be Furey. https://t.co/BHpgixjrBZ pic.twitter.com/whoD5XUZgy

— Luke LeBrun (@_llebrun) June 12, 2023

blogTO reached out to the real Furey team for a less-computerized statement on the campaign gaffe.

A representative of the candidate makes light of the public response, joking to blogTO that "Anthony Furey and his team are working so hard it feels like we need three arms to get everything done."

"We would like to thank Twitter for bringing so much attention to our platform. While it wasn't intentional, we are happy that so many people are coming to our website and learning more about our campaign."