American CEO Who Posted AI Photo in ‘Lake America’ Sweatshirts Is No Longer CEO

An American CEO, who posted an AI-edited photo of herself and three family members wearing “Lake America” sweatshirts while on a trip to Canada, is no longer a CEO.

Jane Smith, the former CEO of U.S.-based credit union Family First whose viral AI-edited photo sparked outrage in Canada, is no longer employed there “effective immediately.”

According to a statement posted to the company’s website on Wednesday, chief operations officer Jason Acosta is now serving as interim CEO. Family First, which is based in Michigan, did not explicitly state that the AI photo scandal was the reason for Smith leaving.

However, according to CNBC News, Family First appeared to refer to the reaction that the AI-edited photo had caused in a Facebook post about Smith leaving the company.

“We sincerely apologize for the concern, disappointment and pain this situation has caused our members and community,” Family First writes on social media.

‘Like Our Sweatshirts? Not Sure Canada Will’

Smith was planning to head out for 10 day trip to Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada with her family on September 11. Before boarding their flight at Halifax, the CEO says she and her family were discussing President Trump’s recent executive order to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America amid the trade war between the two countries.

Smith tells ABC 12 News that they decided to take a group photo at the airport and put it through ChatGPT to see what it would look like if they were wearing Lake America sweatshirts. Smith says they were “kind of poking fun at the fact that you know one of the Great Lakes’ names were getting changed” with the AI-edited photo.

Smith tells the news outlet that she then posted the doctored photo to her private Facebook page in what she describes as a poor-judgment attempt at humor with a marker saying it contained AI content. The CEO shared the image with the caption “Like our sweatshirts? Not sure Canada will” followed by “lol lol.”

When her sister Lila — who was accompanying her on the trip to Canada — reposted the photo on Facebook publicly without the AI marker when the group arrived in Halifax, the image quickly spread online, prompting an angry reaction from Canadians over its reference to the controversial proposal to rename Lake Ontario and attracting national media attention.

Smith says the family had to return from their trip to Canada early after receiving death threats over the photo. She apologized for the image and said she would not use AI again. She also acknowledged the potential dangers of AI-generated images and the risk of people mistaking them for real photographs.

“I think the AI can be dangerous in the fact that it can make people think something’s real that’s not,” Smith tells ABC 12 News.