Ad agency apologises for AI display featuring three-towered KLCC Petronas Towers

Advertising agency Wow Media has apologised for its recent AI-generated digital display featuring the Petronas Twin Towers after a glaring error was detected. 

The AI-generated digital billboard display in Desa Sri Hartamas in Kuala Lumpur was a greeting done for Brickfields District Police Headquarters in conjunction with Merdeka month celebrations. 

The visual depicted the Petronas Twin Towers with three towers instead of two. 

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In a statement on Facebook, Wow Media said it would like to inform netizens of the issue with the national day greeting visual by Brickfields District Police Headquarters displayed on the screen. 

It added that it had identified the error in the visual displayed on the screen and had immediately deleted it. 

Wow Media ended the statement apologising for any confusion that may have arisen and said that it will re-evaluate the procedure to avoid any similar problems in the future. 

Meanwhile, Brickfields District Police Headquarters have also released a statement on Facebook following the release of the visual.

In a statement, the Brickfields District Police Headquarters said that it had advised the advertising company to take down the advertisement immediately. 

A+M has reached out to Wow Media and Brickfields District Police Headquarters for more information. 

AI-driven ads have been getting a lot of blowback lately for errors. Across the border, Singapore's Ministry of Finance (MOF) generated a significant amount of chatter online recently after it released a series of three AI-generated images to bring awareness to its enhanced Assurance Package, a scheme meant support Singaporean families with financial aid.

In the images, MOF shared two pictures of families with children and one with an elderly couple. 

What got netizens talking though was that the images sprouted some errors when looked at too closely. For example, in one of the images, the woman sports six fingers on one of her hands. 

If you zoom in, you can also see a man in the background with an extra toe.

Netizens were quick to criticise the image with some asking why real images of Singaporeans were not used and with some saying it looked "scary" and like a "scam".

Some even said that coming from a ministry in Singapore, where authenticity and truth is valued, the lack of checks on the ad was "alarming". 

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