Donita Large condemns AI-generated image used to promote album

Prominent Cree singer-songwriter Donita Large is currently speaking out against a new site who used AI-generated art work of an Indigenous in place of her likeness with no disclosure or awareness. The article was written to promote her new album, The Ancestors. 

“The title connecting to the image states ‘Donita Large releases the new album The Ancestors…’, which makes this misleading. False visual information, including AI-generated images, can spread disinformation and cause personal harm,” Large said in a statement. “There is no public clarification that the image is AI-generated by the news service and is not me. As this is a news article, this false image is therefore presented as fact.” 

The image shows a presumably Indigenous woman with long black hair, beaded earring and a darker complexion than Large’s. There is also a depiction of an Indigenous woman behind the first figure wearing a beaded headpiece and pan-Indigenous cultural accessories. This was done without her consent and facets of the image were seemingly based of Hollywood stereotyping. 

“This is not authentic and would be perceived as a westernized concept of an aesthetic costume and the default imagery of Indigenous people as propagated by Hollywood tokenism of Indigeneity,” Large said. “By adding these two images together, it creates a false narrative of Indigeneity constructed from AI stereotypes, not truth. Instead of being able to celebrate the sharing of my new album in the news, I am now dealing with increased distress on the choice to use this image to depict my story, my album, and myself as an Indigenous artist.”