Monkeys are incredible escape artists, known to break out of research labs and even trucks that crashed on the highway.
Private enclosures are also no match for the dexterous and scheming simians. Last week, multiple Vervet monkeys, which are native to sub-Saharan Africa, were spotted roaming the streets of St. Louis, Missouri, alarming officials.
Nobody knows how many of them there are, or where they even came from. It’s also illegal to own Vervet monkeys in the city, so if they’re escaped pets, the owner may not own up to having lost them.
“This is the first time we’ve had a situation dealing with monkeys at large in the city of St. Louis,” Department of Health environmental bureau chief Justen Hauser told NBC News-affiliate KSDK on January 9.
But besides the innate challenges of capturing the agile mammals — as well as an escaped goat also on the loose in the Mound City — the St. Louis Department of Health is being frustrated by a novel hindrance: generative AI slop.
As the Associated Press reports, AI-generated images are complicating rescue efforts because residents have been posting fake images online, claiming to have spotted the monkeys.
“It’s been a lot in regard to AI and what’s genuine and what’s not,” city Department of Health spokesperson Willie Springer told the AP. “People are just having fun. Like, I don’t think anyone means harm.”
AI-generated images circulating on X-formerly-Twitter show the monkeys joining a local gang and hanging out on the stoop. Another shows them drinking out of 40-ounce malt liquor bottles.
While many of the images were intended as a joke, AI-based image generators have advanced to the point where they could easily come up with realistic-looking images of escaped monkeys as well, leading officials on a goose chase.
Springer admitted that they don’t even know how many monkeys are on the loose, saying that there could be up to four of them.
“Original reports suggested there were four animals, but we cannot confirm an actual number at this time, only that there is more than one,” Hauser told the BBC.
Experts at the St. Louis Zoo have since joined the efforts, warning that residents should leave the monkeys alone.
“The monkeys can be intelligent but also unpredictable at times,” Hauser told KSDK last week.
Apart from complicating escaped monkey rescue efforts, generative AI has already turned into a major headache for officials. Case in point, police were forced to issue a warning in October after kids started sending their parents AI-manipulated pictures of them welcoming homeless men into their houses.
More on escaped monkeys: University Denies Monkeys That Escaped in Truck Crash Were Infected With Horrific Diseases