Claim: India’s Narendra Modi and Joe Biden are seen taking a stroll together and sharing a meal. Both are wearing traditional dresses, an orange turban, and garlands of marigolds in some pictures.
Fact: None of the photos are real; they are AI-generated images.
On 11 September 2023, Instagram user @nagulachandugoud posted an Instagram Reel showing two pictures of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden, of which one features them taking a stroll together and the other depicts the two sharing a meal.
The post surfaced as India hosted the Group of Twenty (G20) Summit 2023 on 9-10 September, with multiple leaders from around the world travelling to the country.
This year, a G20 Leaders’ Declaration was “adopted at the conclusion of the G20 Summit, stating Leaders’ commitment towards the priorities discussed and agreed upon during the respective ministerial and working group meetings”, according to the forum’s website.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check analysed the images and found they were not real. In fact, we noticed several giveaways of the photos being generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
The signs of AI manipulation in the first photo include how the hands of Biden and Modi are almost melting into each other, Biden’s flat pocket square that doesn’t have any depth, the waxy skin texture of both leaders, and Modi’s partially grey arm just behind his wristwatch.
The signs of AI manipulation in the second photo include an uneven gap between the top and second button of Biden’s kurta, a white kurta showing under Biden’s brown kurta, which is not how kurtas are worn, Modi’s sherwani transforming midway into a kurta flowing over the white kurta he’s wearing underneath, undefined buttons on Modi’s sherwani, and a merged chest pocket on Modi.
The signs of AI manipulation in third photo include an unclear ring finger. Furthermore, there’s no evidence that such an event took place where Biden wore an orange turban, orange kurta, and a garland of marigolds.
The signs of AI manipulation in fourth photo include Biden missing his left foot, Modi’s deformed toes, the merged hands of the two leaders, and the wristwatch strap on Biden’s hand that appears to be broken but is, in fact, incomplete. There’s also no security, which is not possible considering that both are leaders of their respective states. Lastly, there’s no evidence that such an event took place where the two sat together to watch flowers on trays floating in a river.
In the fifth photo, Biden’s head is unnaturally elongated on the sides; plus, there’s no evidence that such an event took place where Biden wore an orange kurta with an orange neck scarf.
The signs of AI manipulation in the sixth photo include Biden’s left thumb morphing into the tray, waxy skin texture.
Moreover, if Modi and Biden did go on walks like that or if Biden wore traditional Indian attire, the images would have appeared on authentic news outlets.
Lastly, VishvasNews, a fact-checking outlet accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which Soch Fact Check is also a signatory, has also debunked two of the aforementioned photos.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the images shared here and here on Instagram, with more than 145,000 and 177,000 views, respectively.
On Facebook, it was posted here, here, here, and here. It was also shared in YouTube Shorts here, here, and here.
The images also appeared on the Indian social networking platform ShareChat here.
Interestingly, some people who posted the AI-generated images on their social media accounts later edited the captions of their posts to clarify that what they had posted was not original but a creation of artificial intelligence. Many others, however, still reposted them as genuine pictures.
Conclusion: None of the photos are real; they are AI-generated images.
Background image in cover photo: Fuzail Ahmad
To submit an appeal on our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com