Michigan CEO Jane Smith (Second from left) was fired after controversy over her AI photo of family members wearing Lake America sweatshirts during their Canada trip.
Jane Smith, former CEO of Family First Credit Union in Saginaw, Michigan, ceased to be an employee of the credit union with immediate effect, according to a statement issued by the organization. Before the trip, the family discussed President Donald Trump’s move to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America”. Smith later said they took a family photograph at Detroit Metropolitan Airport and used ChatGPT to digitally add matching “Lake America” sweatshirts to the image. Smith said the photograph was intended as a joke and was not meant to make a political statement. “We weren’t trying to make a political statement,” she told ABC12 News, explaining that the family was “kind of poking fun” at the controversy surrounding the proposed name change. Smith said that the family had never actually owned or worn the sweatshirts. We never wore sweatshirts,” she said. “I think the AI can be dangerous in the fact that it can make people think something’s real that’s not,” she said.
Chief operating officer Jason Acosta has been appointed interim CEO. “We never had actual sweatshirts.
Meanwhile, three US lawmakers have introduced legislation seeking to prevent the renaming.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Canadians will continue to call it Lake Ontario. The lake borders both the United States and Canada, and the proposed name change has drawn opposition in Canada.