Thailand’s tourism authority has denied using artificial intelligence (AI) to produce a viral campaign image of Thai pop star Lalisa “Lisa” Manobal, after the highly polished visual became a lightning rod for online debate over the growing role of AI in creative work.
The image, released under the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) “Amazing Thailand” banner, shows Lisa – a member of global K-pop sensation Blackpink – framed against the pink blooms of Udon Thani’s Red Lotus Sea, also known as Talay Bua Daeng.
Within hours of circulating online, the poster drew sceptical reactions on social media, with some users branding it “definitely AI-generated” or questioning whether the image was “too perfect to be real”, while others suggested it reflected heavy CGI and retouching rather than generative technology.
