I do not think AI was prevalent in the 1980s, if in use at all. Computers were huge mainframes and there were not sophisticated graphics.
I think I remember the photo, plus rumors that some Americans stayed purposely.
your loss
In the 80’s, I had a Sound Blaster (computer sound card) that came with its own “A.I.”.
Can’t remember the name, but it would physically talk to you, and answer questions (obviously fully scripted, and most answers didn’t make sense to the question, lol). I think it was Dr. something.
(It could have been the early 90’s.. I remember its competition sound card was called AdLib.)
AI did not exist in any form in those days. Image processing was done on large computers and took a lot of time. Photoshop did not exist.
I think he was suggesting using AI to search for the pic