Luigi Mangione's likeness used to model shirt on Shein

Shein, a popular fast-fashion website, recently found itself in trouble after a photo of Luigi Mangione was used to model a white shirt on their site. Mangione is known for being accused of murdering Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in New York last year. The image showed Mangione wearing a short-sleeved white shirt and was available for sale for just under ten dollars. Shein quickly removed the image after discovering it and said that the photo was provided by a third-party seller. The company stated that they have strict rules for all products shown on their platform and are now investigating how this happened. They plan to make their monitoring even stronger and will take action against the seller who uploaded the image.

There is a lot of debate about whether the picture of Mangione was made using artificial intelligence. Some people online believe it was created by AI, but there is no clear answer yet. Experts used a facial recognition tool and found that the image was almost identical to a real photo of Mangione in court. The expert, Henry Ajder, pointed out that the picture had some signs of being AI-generated, like strange lighting and skin texture, and the hand in the photo looked odd. He said that making such images with AI is much faster and easier than editing them by hand.

Mangione pleaded not guilty to all charges and is waiting for his trial. The case has attracted a lot of attention on social media, with people discussing issues about private health insurance in America. Some supporters have raised money for Mangione's defense, and clothes with his name have appeared on sites like Etsy, while Amazon removed similar products. The person who reported Mangione to the police has faced online hate, and the police department that arrested him received threats. Mangione's appearance has become part of his story, with some people saying that Americans are used to trusting men who look like him. This is not the first time Mangione's image has caused problems for companies. Last year, Apple used AI to create a false headline about him, which led to more controversy. His lawyers have not commented on the use of his image on Shein.