The Image Of a Giant Octopus Is AI-Generated
The Claim
A very giant octopus was found off the coast of Bali, Indonesia
News posted on
Emerging story
Recently, social media users have been circulating an image claiming to show the body of a gigantic octopus that has washed ashore on the coast of Indonesia.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the circulating image and found the claim to be fake.
The Image Is AI-Generated Artwork
Misbar's team found that the image was created using artificial intelligence (AI). Through Google's reverse-image search tool, Misbar discovered that it was shared on Instagram by an account called “best_of_ai_,” a self-described "Digital Creator." The caption identified it as a "fictional" creation, titled " The Mourning of the Abyssal Titans."
The Instagram account showcases a series of AI-generated images, all of which are clearly artificial, highlighting the creator's experimentation with various AI technologies, themes, and styles, particularly focusing on generating images of monsters.
Misbar used the HIVE tool to analyze the image and determined that there is a 99.9% likelihood that it was generated by artificial intelligence.
AI Image Generators and Election Disinformation: A Research Analysis
A study conducted by the Center for Countering Digital Hate examined the performance of four AI image generators—Midjourney, ChatGPT Plus, DreamStudio, and Image Creator—by testing 40 text prompts related to the 2024 United States presidential election. The research revealed that these tools produced images representing election disinformation in response to 41% of the 160 test runs. Notable examples of misleading images generated included depictions of Joe Biden sick in a hospital bed, Donald Trump seated sadly in a jail cell, and boxes of ballots in a dumpster.
The study found that AI tools were most prone to generating images promoting election fraud and intimidation, such as misleading depictions of ballots being discarded, riots at polling places, and militia members intimidating voters. Among the tested tools, Midjourney performed the poorest, generating election disinformation images in 65% of the test runs, despite the platform's guidelines prohibiting users from creating images related to political campaigns or influencing election outcomes.
Evidence suggests that bad actors are already leveraging AI deepfakes for election disinformation, as observed in Midjourney's public database of AI images. Additionally, there has been a significant increase in Community Notes referencing AI on platform X, averaging 130% per month between January 1, 2023, and January 31, 2024. The proliferation of AI-generated images on mainstream social media platforms has resulted in instances of chaos, with such images often going viral before being identified as fake.
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