By Anmol Alphonso
A viral photo purporting to show United States President Joe Biden wearing a military uniform in a meeting with military officials, is AI-generated. The photo is being shared on social media claiming that it shows President Biden in a meeting to authorise US military action in the Middle East.
Three US soldiers were killed in a drone attack on a US military outpost in Jordan on January 29, 2024. They were identified as Sgt. William Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia; Specialist Kennedy Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia; and Specialist Breonna Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia, according to the Defense Department reported CNN.
The CNN report claimed that the consensus is that an Iran-backed militia group is behind the deadly drone attack, though the US is still working to determine which group specifically is responsible. Iran has however denied it was behind the Jordan strike. “These claims are made with specific political goals to reverse the realities of the region,” Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani.
There have been several attacks on US forces in the Middle East, including in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. The US has faced back clash in the region for supporting Israel, and the Israeli bombing of the Gaza strip after the October 7, 2023 attack that killed several Israeli soldiers. Sky News reported on January 29, 2024, claiming that Biden might authorise US military action in the Middle East.
The viral photo was posted on X (formerly know as Twitter) by the handle The Saviour (@stairwayto3dom) with the caption, "As early as tonight, Biden will authorize US military action in the Middle East, this will be one of the most important decisions of his presidency - Sky News. Biden is right now in a meeting with the country's top military leadership."
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The photo is being shared widely on X. The X handle Sprinter (@Sprinter99800) posted it with the caption, "Biden is right now in a meeting with the country's top military leadership."
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the photo of US President Joe Biden in a military uniform at a meeting with military officials has been created using generative-AI and is not real. There are several visible visual discrepancies which clearly indicate it is an AI-generated photo.
The first and important discrepancy that's common among several AI-generated photos, is that we can spot that Biden's hands has fingers which are oddly shaped and seem to be merging, also his eyes are totally black.
Secondly, the other clues include a set of telephones jumbled up, and a mobile standing still without any support, and lastly the faces in the background of the meeting are oddly shaped and blur.
These can be seen below:
We then uploaded the image on AI-image detection tool Hive Detector, which estimated that the photo was highly likely to be generated using AI.
BOOM haspreviously debunked several such AI-generated photos of other prominent leaders and celebrities, including Biden and Trump.
