Singaporeans question Jack Neo’s use of AI-generated image of LKY in video

SINGAPORE: Filmmaker Jack Neo celebrated Singapore’s 60th birthday with a video that featured founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. He used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make the music clip, which included other politicians as well.

Sharing the video on Instagram, he wrote in Mandarin, “Yesterday’s speech by Mr Wong reminds us once again how important it is for Singaporeans to be united. As such, I want to share a belated SG60 patriotic song with you. Although not launched on National Day, August is always our National Day month — this is not too late.”

A number of people who look like certain entertainers, including Terence Cao, Collin Chee, Tang Miaoling, Asher Su,  and Dawn Yeoh, are also seen in the video.

“From the beginning of this year’s Lunar New Year film, I have a deep understanding — in this era, people who like music but don’t understand music, don’t worry, you can also write songs in your dreams,” he added.

 

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The part that showed the late Mr Lee also included Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, and Ministers Chan Chun Sing and Ong Ye Kung.

Many Singaporeans have since then commented on the video and were critical of the AI-generated images, especially the image of the late Prime Minister.

“When a respected figure like Mr Lee Kuan Yew is digitally recreated, even with good intentions, it normalises the use of AI likenesses. If Singaporeans get used to seeing such ‘resurrections,’ malicious actors can exploit that familiarity to slip in harmful deepfakes.

I’m sure we appreciate artistic expressions that foster national unity and pride, especially for SG60; however, (IMHO), we must ensure that using the identity of national figures, especially posthumously, is handled with dignity and proper consent,” a commenter wrote.

“These AI videos are literally boomer’s brainrot. Jack Neo thinks it’s so funny and cool, but it’s actually cringe and disrespectful,” another chimed in.

“Just like his movies, cringe 1000%. Please stop producing any more contents. Stop spoiling SG image and bringing our quality to new lows each time. I beg on behalf of all :-),” a Facebook user opined.

Others were concerned about what might follow.

“The problem is this potentially opens the floodgates. Once one person does it without consequences, others will just follow suit, and there isn’t any rules specific rules against deep fakes (barring the election time rules),” a commenter wrote. /TISG

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