Madikeri: A worker from Jharkhand allegedly used artificial intelligence (AI) to create a fake image of a tiger in a coffee plantation at Kusuburu, triggering panic among villagers and a two-hour search by forest department personnel.The worker, employed at a nearby estate, photographed the plantation and dogs roaming there on Friday morning. He used a mobile application to insert a tiger into the plantation image digitally. He sent it to the estate manager and a priest at Sri Mahalingeshwara Temple on the plantation grounds.Believing the image was genuine, the priest alerted the temple committee, which circulated a warning asking villagers to remain cautious and avoid the area. Reports of the purported sighting spread widely, alarming estate workers and residents of nearby villages between 10am and noon.After the estate manager raised an alert, seven forest department personnel, including guards, watchers and Rapid Response Team members, arrived with firearms and searched the plantation for nearly two hours.DRFO Prashanth became suspicious during the operation. Examination of the worker’s mobile phone history revealed that the tiger had been digitally inserted into the photograph, he said. Senior departmental officials were informed.The worker admitted creating the image using AI, acknowledged his mistake and apologised. A temple committee member sought strict action against him for causing unnecessary panic.Assistant conservator of forests NP Naveenkumar said disciplinary action would be taken against the worker for creating the fake AI image and causing alarm.
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