Is an image of a smiling man in a combat uniform holding an American flag a real photo of a U.S. F-15 crew member after his rescue from Iran? No, that's not true: An AI content detection tool determined the image was AI-generated. The fake image fooled some people on social media, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who reposted it on X.
The image appeared in a post (archived here) shared by the @MissyIsMaga account on X on April 5, 2026, under a caption that read:
Here is the photo of the honorable Colonel being rescued yesterday--
God bless him-- our soldiers are ALL doing God's work!
HAPPY EASTER! 🤟🏻🤟🏻🤟🏻🤟🏻
This is what the image looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @MissyIsMaga on X.)
The U.S. Defense Department had not released any images from the rescue or the identity of the pilot as of the time of writing. The only official information in the first hours was a short statement (archived here) from U.S. Central Command, which read:
TAMPA, Fla. -- On April 4, U.S. forces successfully completed the rescues of two American service members from Iran after their F-15E fighter jet was shot down April 2 during a combat mission.
The service members were safely recovered during separate search and rescue missions.
U.S. strikes into Iran continue as U.S. Central Command forces dismantle the Iranian regime's ability to project power beyond its borders.
Among the visual indicators of AI generation is the absence of clear military insignia on the uniforms.
Lead Stories submitted the image to the Hive Moderation AI-generated content detection tool, which concluded the image was 99.9% 'likely to be AI-generated or deepfake content.'
(Image source: Hive Moderation.)
Abbott was apparently fooled by the fake image, reposting (archived here) it with the message "This is so awesome."
