My first on-stage role was as the crocodile in a school production of Peter Pan. I was six. My mum made me what seemed at the time to be an impressive crocodile costume on wheels. I climbed inside and was wheeled about the stage saying tick-tock, tick-tock, as a loudly as I could. No one was terribly scared.
A bit behind the times, but it’s a crocodile story, or rather, a fake crocodile story, and it seems a bit unfair. On 20 August, Singapore’s water agency, PUB, received a report that a crocodile had been seen at Pandan Reservoir, a popular spot for jogging, kayaking and canoeing.
PUB and the National Parks Board carried out search-and-capture operations; rowing and canoeing groups were told to suspend all activities. The following day, authorities confirmed the image was fake and reported it to police.
Ye Lin, a 30-year-old Myanmar national, had created the crocodile image using AI and sent it to a colleague. His colleague sent it on to others, who sent it on to others. Somewhere along the line someone thought it was a real image and alerted the authorities. Ye Lin was later charged with communicating a false message and obstructing the course of justice, after allegedly deleting the image and related AI-app history. But he had never, as far as I can tell, intended it to be taken seriously, and had only passed it on to one friend. Criminal charges seem a bit harsh.
Anyway, this croc looks hungry, so I wouldn’t go swimming at Macleay Island for a while.
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