An image showing a crowded, wrecked, smoke-engulfed street near Eiffel Tower in Paris is going viral on social media to claim that it shows the 'destruction caused by rioters' in France.
This comes after the country witnessed several days of violent protests after the police allegedly shot and killed a 17-year-old for driving a car without a license.
An archive can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
How did we find out the truth?: We ran the image through several tools which help detect AI-generated visuals.
The results obtained on Optic AIornot, Hugging Face and Hive Moderation stated that this image was most likely AI-generated and not real.
Results on Optic AIornot said that this image is generated by AI.
(Source: aiornot/Screenshot)
Results on Hive Moderation said that this image is 99.2% generated by AI.
(Source: Hive Moderation/Screenshot)
Results on Hugging Face said that this image is 68% generated by AI.
(Source: Huggingface/Screenshot)
Discrepancies in the AI-image: In this viral image, we noticed several discrepancies which proved that this is not a real image.
Some figurines of people can be seen standing in middle of the fire on the right side of the image (marked in red circle).
The street lamp seen on the left looks half-cut (marked in yellow circle).
Discrepancies noticed in the AI-image.
(Source: Altered by The Quint))
Other things that didn't add up: The image also shows a damaged street but we found no reports or visuals about any such incident from in Paris.
We also checked Google Earth and Google Maps' street view to find similar street and building with the exact same view of the Eiffel Tower as seen in the viral image but found none.
Conclusion: An AI-generated image of destruction near the Eiffel Tower in France's Paris is being linked to the recent violent protests.
Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)