Images made with artificial intelligence have been weaponised against female politicians in Pakistan. Latest example include social media posts that falsely shared a video of Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the first woman chief minister of Punjab — apparently hugging the UAE’s Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan – an act deemed culturally inappropriate in the conservative country. An AI expert confirmed the video was fabricated.
“It’s the heat,” read the caption of a YouTube video shared on January 6, 2025.
The video, which racked up more than a million views, appears to show Maryam Nawaz Sharif hugging the Arab leader at an airport as her uncle — Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif — looks on.
The song “Garmi” (Heat) from Indian movie “Street Dancer 3D” can be heard in the background.
The post was shared by a YouTube account that regularly posts content supporting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of jailed ex-prime minister Imran Khan.
The PTI is a staunch opponent of the Sharif clan to which Maryam belongs.
The 51-year old became the first woman chief minister of Pakistan’s most populated province Punjab in February 2024. She is the daughter of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif and niece of Pakistan’s current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
A screenshot of the fabricated video shared on YouTube, taken January 14, 2025
Intimate AI-generated imagery of women in the public sphere is often weaponised online in a bid to harm their reputation (archived link).
Pakistani lawmaker Meena Majeed was previously targeted by a similar video appearing to show her hugging an unrelated male minister.
The video spread elsewhere on YouTube here and here as Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited Pakistan in January.
Authorities have arrested eight people accused of sharing and editing the doctored images for allegedly violating the law against cybercrimes (archived link).
AI-generated
A reverse image search of the video’s keyframes on Google led to a photo uploaded on the X account of Zeeshan Malik, Maryam’s special assistant and political secretary, on January 5, 2025 (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the photo in Malik’s X post (right):
Screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the photo in Malik’s X post (right)
An AI expert pointed to visual clues in the video that suggested it was fabricated.
“This video is AI-generated, confirmed by both our detection algorithms and visual inspection,” Siwei Lyu, director of Media Forensic Lab at the University of Buffalo, told AFP (archived link).
“This is likely created with image to video generation methods such as the Runway ML system.”
He pointed to Al Nahyan’s right arm which appears to “go through” Maryam’s left arm.
Al Nahyan’s arm apparently disappearing into Nawaz Sharif’s arm in the fabricated video
AFP found no news reports that the politicians hugged when they met.