Is Seeing Believing?
by Kyle Hudson
Every day, we see countless images created by generative Artificial Intelligence (gAI). These are pictures created out of whole cloth by algorithms trained on a wide range of work. You have probably heard of the most popular of these models: ChatGPT by OpenAI, Gemini by Google, Claude by Anthropic, Copilot by Microsoft. With only a sentence or two, known as a prompt, you can create a hyper-realistic picture of Abraham Lincoln partying with Flava Flav at the Olympics. This means photographic or video evidence no longer necessarily indicates something to be true.
This January, we conducted a poll amongst our readers to ask, “Do you think government-run social media should somehow indicate when they use images generated by AI?” Of those who responded, roughly 96% said yes, and only about 3% of our subscribers said no.
In order to provide the community with more clarity about this issue, we reached out to local government leaders to inquire if they have policies regarding AI usage, as well as what those policies include.
West Chester Police Department Chief Joshua Lee confirmed the WCPD does indeed have an AI use policy in place, however due to the policy including “law enforcement information,” he was not comfortable sharing the details with us.
When asked directly if he used gAI or any LLM models himself, Chief Lee said he personally uses AI to help summarize things he reads, referencing Google Gemini and ChatGPT.
“In law enforcement, we aren’t so quick to jump on any particular bandwagon. We like to make sure new systems are safe and proven. AI is just another one of those things,” Chief Lee stated, adding, “Ultimately, it is the Chief’s responsibility to set a solid framework.”
Chief Lee responded to the public’s concerns regarding government produced gAI images by saying, “My biggest concern is that there is trust in the WCPD, so when people see us on social media and the real world I want it to match. You can trust whatever you see from us, because that’s the foundation we work upon.”
Next, we contacted West Chester borough manager Sean Metrick, who responded with the following statement: “Transparency in this area is important, and something we take seriously as we continue to evaluate our needs and responsibilities. At this time, the Borough does not have a formal AI policy, and our use of generative AI is very limited and general in nature. Because we are still in the early stages of reviewing this topic, I don’t think an interview is appropriate right now.”
Finally, we spoke with David Byerman, Chief Executive Officer of Chester County. Byerman began in his position three years ago, at a time he calls, “the beginning of the hockey stick” when it comes to AI.
According to Byerman, in 2025 Chester County contracted with ChatGPT for a walled-off version of the model which prohibits data uploaded by county employees from being shared with their public model. He also said that since the county works within the Microsoft ecosystem, some people also use Copilot.
Byerman disclosed Chester County government has a 90-person AI task force which meets monthly to discuss shared successes and failures in AI usage. Employees are also restricted from uploading or sharing any personally identifiable information (PII) to use with AI tools. “As a county, we have many departments with sensitive information and we take that seriously.”
When asked if the county government uses gAI to create images, Byerman responded, “we have a lot of talented graphical artists who work for the county. I’m not aware we have any reason to use image generation in any significant way.”
“Our expectation is, regarding policy, anything that’s AI generated and not reviewed by human beings, [that] needs to have an ‘AI Generated’ label. Content will never be used wholesale. It will be reviewed by staff.” Byerman stressed his view regards AI to be a productivity tool, not a substitute for good performance. “You would be foolish to not see the potential [in AI]. We have to do this responsibly in a way that would allay any concerns from residents in Chester County,” Byerman concluded.