While artificial intelligence is widely regarded as a driving force for human progress, its potential for misuse presents a growing challenge. Beyond the fears of job displacement or machine dominance, AI’s immediate negative impact is already being felt in more practical, everyday contexts. A striking example is emerging within China’s e-commerce sector, where the technology is being exploited to commit refund fraud (欺骗), causing significant financial losses for online stores.
This issue stems from a consumer-friendly policy that allows customers to receive refunds without returning goods, provided they submit photographic proof of defects or substandard quality. Although never a perfect system, the rise of sophisticated AI editing tools has made it increasingly difficult for businesses to distinguish genuine claims from fabricated ones. Fraudsters are reportedly exploiting this flaw on a large scale, submitting AI-altered images of products—from unfresh food to cracked dishes and torn clothing—to secure refunds. Compounding the problem is the automated review process on many platforms, where algorithms often approve refunds based solely on the perceived realism of the submitted photos, with no human verification.
The core of the crisis lies in AI’s advanced capability to create flawless fake imagery. As noted by Mr. Chen, a fruit seller in Jiaxing, his store received nine suspicious refund applications in three months. Initially trusting, his suspicion grew with the frequency of claims. Even though he spotted traces of digital editing in the photos, the platform rejected his appeal for lack of sufficient evidence to prove the images were AI-generated.
To tackle this issue, some online shopping platforms have launched tools designed to identify AI-generated images and attach warning labels to suspicious ones. Nevertheless, these platforms admit they cannot guarantee the accuracy of such tools. In September, Chinese authorities introduced the Interim Measures for the Management of AI-Generated and Synthetic Content, which requires that all AI-generated images and videos be marked with both visible labels like watermarks and embedded (嵌入) data tags. Despite the ban on removing these labels, effective detection remains a practical challenge in reality, meaning the threat of AI-enabled refund fraud persists.
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