KOTA KINABALU: From Studio Ghibli dreamscapes to Unduk Ngadau deepfakes, artificial intelligence (AI) is painting a future that's equal parts wonder and worry.
While some netizens marvel at AI’s artistic flair, others fear it may quietly redraw the ethics of consent, culture, and digital identity.
Social media was abuzz on Sunday after a Facebook page posted several images of supposed Unduk Ngadau district contestants.
Despite being AI-generated, the images appeared eerily realistic, misleading many netizens into believing they were genuine.
The situation escalated when a Facebook user claimed the page had reposted his "work" without permission or credit.
On Monday, the Unduk Ngadau Tongod organising committee—the district referenced in the AI-generated post—issued an official statement.
The committee clarified that no official photos of the Tongod Unduk Ngadau contestants had been released.
They also emphasised that the circulated images were not associated with the Tongod Unduk Ngadau organisers.
The committee urged both the Facebook user and the page to release a statement addressing the widely shared post.
Many netizens expressed disappointment, saying the parties involved should have clearly labelled the images as AI-generated.
The Facebook page later apologised in the comments section of the organisers' post and cited the Facebook user as the source of the fake images and bios.
At the time of reporting, both the user and the page had edited their captions to remove any reference to Unduk Ngadau.
The Facebook user maintained that he had labelled the content as AI when it was first posted.