In December 2023, I asked “Non-sarcastically, why am I so sure that this image is generated by AI?” and listed the reasons why I thought that a picture purporting to show gleeful Israeli soldiers in Gaza was a fake.
In July 2025, I must modify my question. Why am I mostly sure that this image, also purporting to show events in Gaza, is generated by AI?
I saw the picture in a Telegraph story written by Melanie Swan and called “More than 90 dead in UN aid truck massacre in Gaza”. The caption says, “Injured Palestinians are taken to hospital after over 90 were killed waiting for humanitarian aid Credit: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty”.
Here are some of the reasons why I think the picture is AI-generated:
Taken separately, all of the above points could be explained away. Lenses distort. Human bodies vary. Hunger makes people thin. Perhaps I will end up deleting this post in shame at having questioned the suffering of real human beings. Perhaps, but, having been able to find at least eight oddities, I think that Getty Images would be justified in putting a few pointed questions to Ali Jadallah.
However, I was right to say in 2023 that “this image is a great deal more realistic than those of only a few months ago. My spidey-sense for fake pictures will not last much longer”. It is even more true now.
Added 22/07/2025: Reading the comments to the Telegraph article, a lot of the commenters are saying, like me, that one of the photographs the Telegraph has used to illustrate it is fake. Only they are talking about a different picture. This one:
It shows a boy running away while a cloud of smoke rises from the buildings behind him.
My suspicions were raised the instant I saw the picture of the men in the vehicle that I talk about above. The hyper-defined outlines and sharp colours gave a sort of slick, sweaty appearance to the flesh of the people depicted that I have often seen in A.I. art and noticed on that picture even before I started counting their digits. There is nothing like that in this second picture. The strange things about it suggest Photoshop rather than DALL-E or Midjourney. The border of the smoke cloud is at a suspiciously neat 45 degree angle. There is also something suspicious about the way the buildings to the left of the boy merge into the smoke. But the main problem is the running boy himself. The photographer appears to have caught him in mid-air – fine, that can happen when taking a photo of a person leaping or running, and catching that moment is usually considered the mark of a successful, dramatic picture – but he is too high off the ground to be plausible. And he has no shadow.
Or does he? There are two darker almost-horizontal lines or one slightly bent line below and to the left of him that could be his shadow. And before anyone brings up the similar horizontal lines to the right of him, those could be the shadow of a tree or pole just outside the picture. He is still suspended at an unlikely height, though. All in all, I am less convinced of the fakeness of this picture than of the other one – and the whole point of this post was that it is getting harder and harder to tell.
We are entering an age in which decisive authentication of a photograph will no longer be possible. The question will be whether one trusts the source. I do not trust anything coming out of Gaza.
I also remember debates about all those newspaper articles “loads of Nazis killed while demanding aid” in the 1940s….. oh wait NO I DIDN’T!
AI-generation discernment is actually going to be easier with the Palestinian pics and vids than with most other subjects.
They ALWAYS fake and lie. Just assume the opposite of what they show you. It’s a safe bet. And, in those few instances where it’s not AI, well, they’re the ones who trashed their own rep.
The handle on the door is a bit weird too.
Well if we’re talking about the cult of cousin love, it could well be AI: actual inbreeding.
The Western media, including the supposedly conservative Telegraph, are slavishly pushing the lies of the Hamas terrorist group – and other Islamic terrorist groups.
But it is not just Jewish people the media lie about – for example the media, again including the supposedly conservative Telegraph and GB News, have pushed the Epstein smear story against President Trump – even though they must know this is a Deep State distraction (if it was real the Biden/Harris Administration would have hit Donald John Trump with it) – a distraction from the declassified intelligence documents that show that the Putin regime did not hack the the Democratic Party National Committee (DNC) in 2016. The leak being internal – from a DNC official or officials who were disgusted by the rigging of the Democratic Primary process.
The Democratic Party candidate for President in 2016, 2020 and 2024 was NOT chosen democratically – the Primary process was a farce, and yet the media cover his up.
By the way Daily Telegraph – with your intelligence community links.
There is no statue of limitation for the pipe bomb left outside the Democratic National Committee building in 2021 – we know it was not a supporter of President Trump who did this. It was Deep State – and although that particular person may no longer be alive, who-gave-the-order needs to be exposed – made public.
And there is statute of limitations for murder – for example the murder of Mr Seth Rich in 2016.
Even if President Trump “has an accident” or “dies of natural causes” – the investigation will continue.
Short version of my last comment…
Nothing in the media, including supposedly conservative media such as the Telegraph and Daily Mail, can be trusted – they push dishonest narratives (lies) in order to further the agenda of the intelligence services and the international Corporate State.
This does NOT mean that everything in the media is a lie – most of it is not lies (the date, the weather forecast, sports results – and so on), but do-not-trust the media – including the supposedly conservative media.
Last point – Mr Putin’s media is not a real alternative, on the contrary, it pushes the same lies about Gaza – in order that the alliance with the forces of Islam continues (in spite of Islamic terrorist attacks against Russian civilians) – for example more Muslim soldiers in the Russian army, determined to kill the “Zionist entity” Zelensky of Ukraine.
I am certainly not a fan of everything President Zelensky has said (for example a friend showed me his fawning praise for Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada) or done – but Mr Putin is worse.
May I mention to those who have already commented that I have added some discussion of a second picture from the same Telegraph story.
These are supposed victims of a shooting massacre, but there is no blood or gunshot wounds visible. And they are covered in dust as if they have been in an explosion. They are just models who have been told “ now look like you’ve been blown up”
Also the perspective is off. The scene has a splayed out look, take the join between the black end wall and the adjacent white panel, and line it up with the red vertical lines in the shelving.
But the real tell is the glossy, hyper real appearance contrasted with the gritty subject matter.
What you’re seeing are distortions cause by the camera angle and wide-angle lens distortions.
One known effect is to make things closer to the camera appear larger or longer, such as arms and legs.
What it comes down to is people who are predisposed to believe the pictures and the story will believe them. People who are predisposed to disbelieve them will disbelieve them.
And people in the middle will continue worrying about going to work, filling their gas tank and playing ball with their kids and just tut-tut about all the discord in the world.
Pretty much like it’s always been.
Natalie,
I know a lot about AI imaging. One thing it very frequrntly gets wrong is protruberances. Arms, legs, digits, tails, and also people holding things. It is surprisingly difficult to, for example, get a knight to hold a sword in a believable way.
Having said that AI images have advanced dramatically in just the last two years I’ve been using it. Not just in quality but in cheapness. Why does the latter matter? Because you never know when you hit “create” whether you’re getting a masterpiece or a mutt. So create a lot.
Henry,
Interesting point but a very odd type of pic to use a wide-angle lens for.
OK. I’ll call it probs AI at some level. And it’s not just the toes. The guy on the far right just looks wrong and what is that weird reflective panel behind him? There is something else though (and I’m going out on a limb here). The image has a “feel” that is kinda like it’s been “grimed-up”. But… Another thing most AI models struggle with is typography and that Adidas logo is perfect. Final conclusion. Possible AI generated and almost certainly AI enhanced if it is taken from a real picture. This would explain both the accurate typography and Henry’s point.
Yeah, that’s where my money is going.
PS. If anyone wants to look at my AI stuff it’s on Nightcafe under @NickM. If anyone is so moved to join the fun then please quote @NickM and I’ll get 100 credits. If you let me know you’ve done that then I will tip you 50 back and that’s a nice initial war-chest.
People who lap up the daily bbc headline figures from the hamas run health ministry, the Palestinian Red Crescent and the UN are hardly going to question the authenticity of narrative enhancing photos showing children – which 99.9% of them do.
As has been said, we will soon not be able to trust any photo unless we trust the source. I’d say that’s true of everything online from Day 1 and maybe everything that has ever been said!
I’m at the point where I only trust things told directly to me by a person I trust…and even if I trust them, do I trust their sources. We all need to work on our “spidey senses”.
I’m about to post this and am being asked to prove I’m not a robot! I’m sure I will pass the test as these tests are easily fooled…so what do YOU believe?
ps following the “I am not a robot” test, the test asked me to identify motorcycles in a picture, then showed me a picture of scooters. Not one hog or real bike there. Shows what robots/AI think. Some day I need to make a list of things that bug me; it might help. I have my “Old Man Ranting” folder for just such things!