AI-Generated Images of Ronaldo With Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma Viral as Real

These images have been created using artificial intelligence (AI) and are not real as claimed.

A set of three images have gone viral to claim that veteran footballer Cristiano Ronaldo met with Indian cricketer Virat Kohli and his spouse, actor Anushka Sharma.

The claim: Users sharing the claim wrote, "When icons meet," "When cricket meets football."

(Sources of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is the claim true?: No, the claim is false. These images have been created using artificial intelligence technology.

What we found: At first, we went through the social media of the three people mentioned in the posts but did not find any post like this.

• We, then, noticed the images closely and found several discrepancies such as the woman in the image did not resemble Sharma, the texture of the faces was either extremely smooth or blurred and we spotted one extra finger jutting out of Kohli's hand.

• These anomalies hinted that the images could have been generated using AI technology.

• We, then, ran the images on AI-detection websites such as Hive Moderation, Sightengine and AI or Not and found the following.

• Hive Moderation and Sightengine declared that the first image of Ronaldo with Kohli-Sharma was 98.3 per cent and 99 per cent AI-generated.

• While AI or Not concluded that the first image of Ronaldo and Kohli was 'likely AI-generated.' However, Hive Moderation concluded that the other image was unlikely AI and gave it 30 per cent.

Conclusion: A set of AI-generated images of Ronaldo with Kohli and Sharma have gone viral as real on social media.

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