In March 2023 there was a real boom in the distribution of photos created using artificial intelligence. Among them, Vladimir Putin on the knee in front of Xi Jinping, the Pope in the down jacket, the arrested Donald Trump, the exhausted Julian Assange and others. In this regard, we compiled a guide on how to distinguish images of neural networks from the present.
Arrested Donald Trump
From March 19 on the background messages The fact that Donald Trump will probably be arrested on charges related to the payment of money for the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniels, photos of the alleged detention of the former president of the FBI and the police were enclosed in social networks. In a short time, similar posts collected Hundreds of thousands of views.
Trump Presented Accusations of falsification of business documentation on March 30. April 4, he He went 34 points of prosecution were arrested and published in the office of the district prosecutor Manhattan, where he was arrested and released. Trump declared himself innocent and was released from the courtroom. The next hearing is scheduled for December 4.
At the same time, the first viral pictures of Trump's arrest appeared on March 19, but not in media publications or on the sites of photographs, but on the user Twitter under the nickname The Infinite Dude - in the description of his profile indicatedthat he is a film maker working with artificial intelligence (AI). March 20, he I boastedthat Forbes magazine wrote About him an article, which stated that photographs are a fake. Journalists, like some users, Noticedthat the hands of all people in the frame seem deformed. This indicates the result of the work of neural networks. In April The Infinite Dude Shared more a few your own work On the topic of Trump's arrest.
From March 21, a new portion of the photo with Trump began to disperse: on one of them the former president ran away from the police, however, judging by the others, he was caught up and seized. If you look at the pictures in reverse order, it turns out that Trump escaped and was able to escape from law enforcement agencies.
FACHECHERS FROM Associated Press (AP), Les Observateurs, Correctiv, Lead Stories And Newtral established that the images were created by the journalist and founder of the Bellingcat* Eliot Higgins, who at night Published Pictures on a personal page on Twitter. In general, Higgins showed more than 50 photos created by neural networks on the theme of arrest, trial and the escape of Trump from prison. The date was not chosen by accident - Trump itself Expectedthat he will be arrested precisely on March 21.
Upon closer examination, you can notice some details that give out the non -authorized photographs. For example, Trump has no brush in one picture, there is no forearm and shoulder on the other, and on the third he himself is dressed in a police uniform. Higgins reportedthat used the latest version Midjourney (V5) - a program that, using neural networks, creates images according to text requests.
“In fact, the image of Trump’s arrest simply showed how good Midjourney is in the visualization of real scenes. For example, on the first Image Trump with three legs and a police belt. I assumed that people would understand that Donald Trump had two legs, not three. However, it seems that this did not prevent some from imprinting the pictures for real [photo], which emphasizes the lack of critical thinking skills in our educational system, ” - told Higgins in an interview with AP.
On March 22, Higgins said that his Blocked on the Midjourney platform, and journalists toldwhat now it is forbidden Create images if the word "arrested" is present in the request.
In early April, two more viral photos appeared: on One It is allegedly shown how Trump, along with the column of his supporters, returns to New York, and on second “His magic, that is, the photo of the arrested.”
The first photo has a @brick_suit signature - a user who wrotethat he himself generated this image with help Midjourney V5. This picture seems realistic only from afar, since in close consideration you can see that all figures have distorted faces. In the second case, two parts are indicated for the fake. Firstly, according to media reports, Trump is not took pictures During the arrest. Secondly, against the background, random sets of letters and numbers are visible, which is characteristic of images from neural networks at this stage of technology development.
Fake
Vladimir Putin kneaded before Xi Jinping
March 20 Chairman of China Xi Jinping Arrived On a state visit to Russia. On the same day, a picture was dispersed over the network, in which Putin seemed to stand on his knee in front of the head of China and kisses his hand. For example, the tweet of the American political consultant and correspondent of the publication of Kyiv Post Jason Jay Smart with this photo Sicked Almost 800,000 views. According to comments, many people wondered if this is a real photograph. There is a picture in Telegram (examples here And here).
Viral photo disassembled factor of publications Correctiv, Newtral, Open, Newsweek And Deutsche Welle**, as well as a journalist Amanda Florian. All of them conducted an analysis of the image, talked with experts and came to the conclusion that this picture was created using AI.
The following basic arguments can be distinguished, why this is a fake photo:
- not in any publication There is no link on the source or name photographer;
- room, furniture And shoes politicians officially published pictures differ from those shown in a viral photo;
- There are visual and optical anomalies.
Among such anomalies, the following are cast in the eyes: a disproportionately large head and deformed boot of the Russian president, the uneven facets of the column on the background, the unrealistic location of the table legs, deformed ears of politicians, as well as the adverse fingers of a person in the background.
In addition, many facts checked the photo using the tool AI-IMAGE-DETector On the Huging Face platform is an image detector that allows you to determine whether the picture was created. According to the program, with greater probability, Putin’s photograph on the knee is fake.
Fake
Emmanuel Macron on street protests
In connection with continued In France, protests against pension reform on March 22 on Twitter came the photo of the French president, in which he is depicted at the center of the demonstration surrounded by police. Tweet without explanation Sicked Several million views.
How Report Journalists of the Les Observateurs project France 24, in some publications, users directly indicate the use of artificial intelligence tools, however, in other publications, these images are given without context or corresponding signature and therefore can be misleading.
Fake
Pope Francis in a white down jacket
On March 24, an incredibly viral photo of the pope appeared. On it, the pontiff is shown in the traditional headdress of Pileolus and a modern white down jacket with a hood, a cross is on top of the jacket. For example, one The tweet with this picture at the time of writing this analysis gained almost 28 million views, and another - 21 million according to many comments of network users, including TV presenter and model Chrissy Tygen, many believed that the photo of the head of the Catholic Church is genuine.
Since the whole world flew around the photo, factor from different countries wrote about it - the exposure of the picture was published by publications Snopes, Correctiv, Lead Stories And Newtral. It turned out that the photo of the pope in the down jacket appeared March 24 at the Reddit entertainment forum in the section on images generated by Midjourney. Moreover, in the original post, three more versions of a fake picture are added. The author’s account has already been deleted, but, according to the page code and the web archive, his nickname trippy_art_special.
Journalists of the publication Buzzfeed found the creator of the generated image of the pope and We talked With him. It turned out to be Pablo Javier-a 31-year-old builder from Chicago, who refused to give a surname in connection with possible threats to him. He began working with Midjourney after his brother’s death, using a neural network to recreate the image of a deceased relative. Once, under the influence of psychotropic substances, Pablo decided that it would be funny to portray Francis in a funny Kurt from Balenciaga or Moncler. He placed the resulting images on Facebook ***-community AI Art Universe, and then on Reddit, where its profile is soon Blocked. Pablo did not expect a similar scale of the distribution of the photo and said that he was scared, because many people believed in the authenticity of the picture, and some used it to criticize the church. In this regard, Pablo believes that laws governing the use of neural networks should be adopted.
AI expert Henry Azer He told Business Insider about the signs that give out artificial nature a photo of the pope. Firstly, the hand holding the coffee cup looks deformed. Secondly, dad glasses are not completely drawn and there is a discrepancy with their shadow. Thirdly, Adger advises Pay attention to the textures: “One of the features that is noticeable when using the fifth version of Midjourney is that many of these images have a very characteristic plastic hyperrealistic appearance, as if a filter has been laid out in the photo.” He added that this can change with the development of the platform. The authors of The Verge also noticed that there are no straight angles on the cross on the pontiff.
Fake
Elon Musk on dates
On March 26, Twitter user under the nickname ALLYURTECH wrotethat the head of Tesla began to meet with Mary Barro, the general director of General Motors, and accompanied the tweet with a pair with a picture. Later the same user reportedAs a few hours later, the mask was noticed on a walk with a member of the House of US representatives Alexandria Okasio-Cortes. In total, the two posts gained almost 16 million views.
How reports The publication of Snopes, the author of these works was the blogger Brian Lovett, who is on his YouTube channel toldWhat Midjourney used, but did not make the image “completely photorealistic”, which again can be seen from the curved fingers of the captured people. At the same time, Lovett specified that he wanted to show to what level this technology is already developed. According to him, this level is already a little scary.
By the way, Musk himself responded to a viral tweet with barra, Having written: "I would never put on such a suit."
Fake
Photo of unhealthy Julian Assange in prison
On March 30, 2023, a photo spread, which was allegedly shown the founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange, located in the British Belmarsh prison. In his post (155,000 views) a permanent guest of Russian political talk shows Yakov Kedmi wrote: "Apparently, the journalist is subjected to inhuman torture." Told about this photo and TV presenter Ruslan Ostashko (104,000 views), and in the publication, which reputed (218 000) former Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Vasilev, it is argued that prison conditions turned 51-year-old Assange into an “dying old man”. Also, the picture was enclosed in Twitter and "VKontakte", where the post of public "Voice of Mordor" Collected More than 1600 likes at 20,000 views.
A translucent inscription is imposed on top of the viral photo, which states that this picture is the property of a certain “E”. The wife of Assange Stella claimsthat photography is a fake created by AI. As it turned out, initially a picture appeared March 30 on Twitter user under the nickname @Theerrantfired, which confirmed its authorship in personal correspondence with publications AP And Bild And he said that he took a photo using the fifth version of Midjourney. According to The Errant Friend, which, for security reasons, did not name the real name, the image was created as part of the "viral movement for Julian's freedom" to demonstrate "the documented suffering of Assange in Belmarsha." Two weeks earlier The Errant Friend Published Another fake photo of the arrested Assange, which did not gain public resonance.
Fake
Joe Biden celebrates Trump's charges
March 31, Twitter user under the nickname @_johhnymaga Published Photos of US President Biden and Vice President Kamaly Harris and said that the day before they celebrated the exit of the indictment against former president Donald Trump. Tweet collected more than 500,000 views (at the time of writing this analysis it has already been deleted).
On the pictures Turned Attention of the factor Snopes. Deputy Spokesman of the White House Andrew Bates told the publication that these photos "are not true." In addition, at the time of the alleged shooting of Harris committed A business visit to Africa. The fact that this is the next work of Midjourney, again Indicates Brush defect: in the second picture, Harris is like six fingers.
Fake
In recent months, digital art created by neural networks has become a real phenomenon. According to many experts in the field of artificial intelligence, Midjourney technology is constantly developing, so all the shortcomings mentioned above can be corrected in the new versions of this neural network. In this case, there are also other programs with similar functionality, among which Dall-E, Stable Diffusion And Craiyon. However, at the moment, it is still possible to distinguish fake pictures from the present, having completed one or more actions below.
- Try to find the source of the image.
There is Reverse search According to the picture c Anyone from affordable services. In addition, this will help to find similar photos for comparison with genuine photos. You should also pay attention to the imposed inscriptions - Among them, the author’s name, the name or logo of the program used can be indicated.
- Look for information about the event captured in the photo in authoritative sources.
Maybe bethat the depicted event should not have happened, or that a person with a photo at the time of the alleged shooting was in a completely different place. In addition, a refutation may already be published somewhere.
- Pay attention to visual inconsistencies, strange details and artifacts.
More often Midjourney errors are related to the image fingers, limbs And teeth, and also proportions bodies and text (he it turns out Either a meaningful set of symbols, or incomprehensible scraps). It is worth considering background, Textures, Shadows, clothes (especially head Devices), intricate accessories, furniture and others itemswho may look suspicious, unnatural and absurd.
- Check photos through services Huging Face or Replicate.
On these platforms there are detectors by definition of images created by AI. However, sometimes they can erroneously evaluate General images are like a fake, so this tool can only be auxiliary.
*The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation Brought Bellingcat in the register of foreign and international non -governmental organizations, whose activities are recognized as undesirable in Russia, as well as in list Media - foreign agents.
** Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation Turned on Deutsche Welle in the register of foreign media that perform the functions of a foreign agent.
*** Russian authorities They think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.
Photo on the cover: collage "Checked" / social networks / trippy_art_special / @eliothiggins
- Is it true that scientists have created a 3D model of the biblical Adam, similar to the wine of a diesel engine?
- Is it true that Putin's hand was a bruise during a performance on Valdai?
- Is the photo true in which Bidden put his hand on the buttocks of Zelensky?
- Is it true that foreign satirical magazines released these covers dedicated to the words of the Pope about Chechens and Buryats?
- Is it true that Emmanuel Macron tried to hide the watch for € 80,000 during an interview?
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