Michigan credit union CEO fired over AI Lake America post — SkimNews
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- Family First Credit Union (Saginaw, Michigan) fired CEO Jane Smith effective immediately, naming Jason Acosta as interim successor and apologizing for the 'concern, disappointment and pain' caused.
- Jane Smith used ChatGPT to edit her family's sweaters and posted the image on Facebook on September 11 — the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks — while at Detroit airport en route to Halifax, captioning it: 'Like our sweatshirts? Not sure Canada will.'
- Halifax's specific role hosting thousands of stranded airline passengers after US airspace closed on 9/11 amplified the offense for Canadian commenters, who found the post particularly insensitive.
- Smith apologized to Detroit station WJRT, saying she was 'poking fun' at the lake's renaming and 'wasn't trying to make a political statement,' though the credit union still parted ways with her.
- Trump's late August executive order renamed Lake Ontario to 'Lake America' amid his trade war with Canada; Canadian PM Mark Carney rejected the change, noting the name predates both Canadian Confederation and US independence.
- Several US Great Lakes governors dismissed the renaming, and the order has no authority over Canada's portion of the lake, international legal bodies, or mapmakers.
Why it matters: A Michigan credit union CEO lost her job over a single vacation social media post, showing how Trump's Lake Ontario rename — dismissed by Canadian PM Mark Carney, several US governors, and international mapmakers — still generates live bilateral friction that spills into personal and institutional consequences.
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