Fake AI image used to claim Bondi Beach shooting was stagedpublished at 10:45 GMT
10:45 GMT
Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist
An AI-generated picture – which we should warn you shows a man with a bloodied face – is being used to make false claims that the Bondi Beach shooting was staged, including social media posts seen more than 10 million times.
The fake picture appears to show one of the victims of the attack having fake blood put on by a make-up artist on what appears to be a film set next to a beach.
The man sitting on the ground resembles Arsen Ostrovsky, an Israeli lawyer who was grazed in the head by a bullet and shared pictures of his injuries on social media.
This fake image has been used in hundreds of posts across social media platforms to claim that the shooting was a so-called “false flag” attack, but there are clear signs this picture is AI-generated.
We know from an interview Ostrovsky did with Australia’s 9 News TV that his t-shirt said United States Marines on it, with a Marines logo in the centre. As is common for AI generators, this design has been scrambled in the fake image.
The fake picture shows a large bloodstain at Ostrovsky’s neckline, but there is no matching bloodstain in the TV interview.
Elsewhere in 9 News’ live coverage we can see an injured Ostrovsky wearing shorts, but in the AI picture he is wearing jeans.
If you look at the top of the fake image, many of the hands of the apparent crew members are deformed, as is the car in the background. Many social media posts have used a cropped version of this fake photo with the top section removed.
