Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Photo of US vice president Kamala Harris with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on his infamous Caribbean island. Epstein killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial over federal sex-trafficking charges.
The archived version of the tweet can be seen here.
Fact
Newschecker noticed the unnaturally smooth and plastic texture of Harris’ and Epstein’s skins, their perfect hair and slightly blurred background, all telltale signs of AI-generated content, raising our doubts.
We then ran the image past an AI-content detection tool, TrueMedia, which stated there was “substantial evidence of manipulation.” We ran the image past Hive Moderation, too, which stated the image is “likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content”. Using another tool, isitai.com, we found the image was “highly likely AI generated”.
Also Read: Mass Cheating During UPSC Exam? No, Unrelated Video Viral With False Claim
Result: False
Sources
TrueMedia tool
IsitAI? tool
Hive Moderation tool
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
