Opinion

Storm in a Royal Doulton teacup

Who of you has not winced when looking at family photos, wondering if something couldn’t be done to make them more flattering?

In the pre-digital days, you had to know a really skilled photo retoucher to massage your image to a more beautiful state but, these days, there is all manner of software and even, lately, artificial intelligence (AI) to manipulate the pixels into a more pleasing agglomeration.

You can even do it at the scene of the crime with your AI-enabled smartphone.

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ALSO READ: ‘I do occasionally experiment with editing’– Kate Middleton apologises about photo controversy

So, perhaps, it’s really a storm in a Royal Doulton teacup that so much has been written – and said – about the fiddling which Catherine, Princess of Wales, supposedly did to a family picture officially released by Kensington Palace.

The Princess was forced to go public after a number of news agencies withdrew the image after doubts were raised about it being altered – something which violates their strict policies on not using pictures which have been manipulated.

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While it may have been a harmless “experiment”, as Kate put it in a hastily issued clarification, the incident does point to the darker side of information manipulation, which has only become more worrying as AI image and text modification and invention improves.

ALSO READ: Princess of Wales wishes mothers in the UK a Happy Mother’s Day, as she continues to recover

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By Editorial staff