MS NOW changes AI-altered image of Minnesota shooting victim Alex Pretti after backlash

MS NOW edited a "Deadline: White House" segment on Monday after admitting to using an AI-enhanced image of Alex Pretti while reporting on his death.

Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident and ICU nurse, was killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent during an immigration enforcement operation on Saturday. MS NOW host Nicolle Wallace reported on the ongoing tension between the city and federal immigration authorities, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

"The people there were pushed to the brink over the weekend, again in the wake of another killing of a nonviolent bystander by ICE agents in Minneapolis," Wallace said. "This time, it was 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who cared for veterans. Donald Trump and his cabinet, his administration, are demanding once again that you not believe your eyes and ears."

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Alex Pretti was killed by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis last Saturday. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

She continued, "Fortunately, for the sake of our country and our democracy, Americans in large numbers today are choosing to reject Donald Trump’s lies and his administration’s lies and reject a smear campaign by Donald Trump and his administration that is intended to somehow justify the unjustifiable, state-sanctioned act of brutality on the streets of an American city."

Her report was superimposed with an image of Pretti wearing his nurse scrubs.

Shortly after the segment aired, however, many viewers and commentators noted that the image on MS NOW looked different from a similar image provided by the Service Employees International Union, which Pretti belonged to as a member.

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MS NOW aired an AI-enhanced image of Alex Pretti on "Deadline: White House." (Screenshot/MS NOW)

One notable critic was podcast giant Joe Rogan, who compared the photos on his show, "The Joe Rogan Experience," on Wednesday.

"They made him handsome, so people would be more sympathetic to him getting shot, which is kind of wild. Like, are ugly people less valuable to [MS NOW]? That is crazy to me," Rogan joked.

MS NOW later removed and re-edited the segment on its official YouTube account with an editor's note that confirmed the show had used an "AI-enhanced image" of Pretti.

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MS NOW re-edited its segment after admitting to airing the AI-enhanced image. (Michael Pretti via AP)

"MS NOW swapped out the original thumbnail image for this video. The previous thumbnail used was an AI-enhanced image of Alex Pretti," the editor's note read.

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MS NOW did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.