Deepfakes

Did Joe Rogan claim scientists have found extraterrestrial life on a planet known as "K2-18 b," as a video on Facebook suggested? No, that's not true: As narration that sounds like Rogan describes the supposed discovery, images cover his face so it's not obvious if the voice is dubbed. There is no evidence the podcast host ever made the comments.…

Did actors Jon Voight and Angelina Jolie "join forces for a non-woke production studio" named "Time for a Change"? No, that's not true: The claim was first published on a self-described satire website. The article was not even an original, manually crafted piece -- it was an AI-generated story. The claim originated from an article (archived here) on esspots.com published…

Do photos document archaeologists found tombs in Crimea containing the remains of giants? No, that's not true: This clickbait story is made up and it uses fake images of giant skeletons to drive traffic to a website with potentially malicious ads. The fake images used in the post on Facebook do not even appear in the recycled article on the…

Is an image showing a dramatically swirling and sparkling corona over a wooded hillside a real photo of the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse? No, that's not true: The AI detection tool from Hive Moderation rated this image as having a 99.8 percent likelihood of being AI-generated. Practical photography considerations also expose this as an impossible photo. Both a…

Did Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy buy the Highgrove mansion from the United Kingdom's King Charles III? No, that's not true: A representative of Grant Harrold, a former royal butler who was cited as the main source in an online article making the claim, told Lead Stories that the claim is "completely false." Lead Stories found several signs pointing to AI-generated…

Did Donald Trump say "144,000 Black people with superpower godlike abilities" are the "chosen ones", as a TikTok video claims? No, that's not true: In a viral clip on social media, the original sound from an NBC interview was replaced by AI-generated audio. The counterfeit video uses footage from a 2017 interview in which Trump talked about firing FBI Director…

Did "The Simpsons" TV show predict that a ship would crash into the Francis Scott Key Bridge over Baltimore Harbor? No, that's not true: The image purportedly foretelling the crash was created using artificial intelligence, based on the results of three image analysis tools used by Lead Stories. Additionally, there is no evidence the image ever appeared online ahead of…

Does an image circulating on social media showing what appear to be skinned human hands in vacuum-sealed packages provide evidence of human meat on the market? No, that's not true: Many clues in the image point to it having been generated with an AI program. The earliest copy of the image Lead Stories has identified was posted on a Facebook…

Did Vladimir Putin proclaim that Russia will embrace "the guidance of Black Jesus"? No, that's not true: A video claiming to be an authentic fragment of a Sky News live broadcast of an address by Putin was digitally doctored. The original sound was replaced by an AI-generated voice reading an AI-generated text. The claim appeared in a video (archived here)…

Did Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, describe the Moscow concert hall attack on March 22, 2024, as "a lot of fun"? No, that's not true: The video purportedly showing an interview with Danilov is a deepfake, created from two other videos, with a synthetic voice track. Additionally, the website of a software company specializing…

Did a Danish scientist discover a 14-foot-tall white bird in Antarctica? No, that's not true: This fictional scientific discovery video was fabricated with artificial intelligence and follows a recently trending formula to produce eye-catching conspiracy content to monetize it on social media. The images of the scientist and his purported discovery, and the voice of the script reader resembling that…

Is this an authentic March, 2024 photo, showing flames billowing behind a President Vladimir Putin re-election billboard that reads "stability" in Russian? No, that's not true: The image was computer-generated, according to tools created to detect AI art. Earlier versions of posts with the picture contained the kinds of anomalies that are common to AI-generated images. The claim appeared in…

Does a photograph show a daughter of "Dr. Sebi" on trial, purportedly for "revealing TOP SECRET health hacks," as claimed in a Facebook post? No, that's not true: The image of a woman in an orange prison outfit is not a real photograph. One clue that it's an AI-generated or manipulated image is the right arm's appendage, which is a…

Did Joe Rogan, in an episode of his podcast, say that a U.S. Navy ship was attacked by a megalodon? No, that's not true: Narration that sounds like Rogan telling a tale of a Navy ship being ambushed by an ancient, giant shark is covered by images other than any showing Rogan's mouth, so that viewers can only hear the…

Does a viral video of a "green laser" authentically show a beam igniting a Texas wildfire that started in late February 2024? No, that's not true: The clip was posted two months before the blaze. It was first published in a social media account of a person describing themselves as a "video creator" who made no references to Texas…

Did Alexi Navalny's mother Lyudmila publicly accuse the politician's widow Yulia Navalnaya of capitalizing on her son's death? No, that's not true: The purported "address" is an AI-generated fake. Its origin can be traced to a network of Kremlin state-funded propaganda resources. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, on February 22, 2024.…

Does a photograph show the son of Dr. Sebi on trial, purportedly for "spreading health secrets?" No, that's not true: The image of a man in an orange prison outfit is not a real photograph of the "son" of Dr. Sebi, whose real name was Alfredo Bowman and who was not a doctor but who was known for promoting questionable…

Does a video circulating on social media show a CNN report with President Joe Biden speaking about oil smuggling in Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela? No, that's not true: The video clip is not authentic. This exact clip is available from a celebrity voice-generating app. This clip featuring the likeness of Joe Biden has an AI-generated voice delivering a customizable…

Did France 24 report that French President Emmanuel Macron cancelled a visit to Ukraine over fears of an assassination attempt? No, that's not true: France 24 debunked the claim. The video purporting to show the network report the news is a deepfake, generated by AI. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, on…

Does a government health poster list "heart attacks," "strokes" and "sudden death" as side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine, as shown in an Instagram post? No, that's not true: It is counterfeit. Though it was made to look like official Irish government health circulars, the Irish government never published a poster listing those as side effects. Additionally, there is no…