An AI-enhanced version of a grainy image that appears to show several men being arrested in relation to the ongoing incident at RAF Fairford is currently being shared on multiple platforms. A SynthID check reveals that the enhanced image was generated with OpenAI (first image). In the grainy version, which seems to be genuine, the faces of the men being arrested, along with a few other details, are not clearly visible (second image). Enhancing grainy images and videos with generative AI to identify key missing details - such as faces, writings, locations, logos, etc - often produces inaccurate and unreliable results. That's because AI models have no reference as to what the missing details in a real but grainy image or video look like, and therefore, they often generate those details based on an incorrect guess rather than factual data.

THREAD: Misinformation in the Iran/US/Israel war - 18 March This video, viewed over 3 million times, claims to show USS Abraham Lincoln on fire after being struck by Iranian missiles. The video is AI-generated. It's not real.

I'm being asked by many users how they can verify images and videos of the conflict in the Middle East, including many fakes that are going viral. This is a thread I wrote exactly three years ago with a step-by-step guide on verifying online images that anyone can learn to do.