{"id":37633,"date":"2024-10-23T03:06:19","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T07:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/image-of-huge-nighttime-march-for-ex-pakistan-pm-bears-ai-signs\/23\/10\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-10-23T03:06:19","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T07:06:19","slug":"image-of-huge-nighttime-march-for-ex-pakistan-pm-bears-ai-signs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/image-of-huge-nighttime-march-for-ex-pakistan-pm-bears-ai-signs\/23\/10\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Image of ‘huge nighttime march for ex-Pakistan PM’ bears AI signs"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As supporters<\/span> of Pakistan’s jailed former leader Imran Khan marched towards the capital Islamabad in early October to call for his release, an image appearing to be a huge crowd gathered on a winding road under a full moon <\/span>has been shared with a false claim that it showed the march. The image, however, bore signs it had been generated using artificial intelligence (AI).<\/span><\/h3>\n

“The caravan of Peshawar departs for D-Chowk. Night to remember. We worship You (Allah) and seek help from You,” read the caption to the image written in a mix of Urdu, English and Arabic\u00a0shared on Facebook<\/a> on October 4, 2024.<\/p>\n

Peshawar is the capital of Khan’s powerbase northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province while\u00a0D-Chowk<\/a> refers to an interchange<\/span> in Islamabad located near key buildings including the Parliament House, the Presidential Palace and the Supreme Court (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The image — shared more than 140 times — appeared to show a long trail of people and vehicles moving under a moonlit sky on a road snaking through hills. It bore a watermark that read “Bilal AI” in the upper left corner.<\/p>\n

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A screenshot taken on October 17, 2024 of the false Facebook post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

The post surfaced as activists from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party began driving to Islamabad<\/a> from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but were met with shipping container roadblocks and volleys of tear gas (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The capital was locked down, swarmed by security forces with mobile Internet cut as the jailed former leader’s supporters attempted to seize the streets in protest.<\/p>\n

Khan has been in jail since 2023 on several charges, some still pending in the courts, which he insisted were designed to prevent him from returning to office.<\/p>\n

The image was also shared alongside similar false claims on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Threads<\/a> and\u00a0YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Comments to the posts indicated some believed the image was genuine.<\/p>\n

“People have come out now,” one wrote.<\/p>\n

“Don’t mess with the flood of people, you (government) will destroy yourself,” another said.<\/p>\n

Signs of AI<\/h3>\n

Siwei Lyu, director of Media Forensic Lab at the University of Buffalo, told AFP on October 16 that the image bore visual inconsistencies, suggesting it was AI-generated.<\/p>\n

“The proportions of the people in the image are inconsistent and some individuals appear disproportionately small,” he said.<\/p>\n

Below is an image sent to AFP by Lyu with the inconsistencies highlighted:<\/p>\n

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Screenshot of the AI-generated image explaining the inconsistencies in the proportions of people.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Moreover, the circulating image appeared to show a full moon, but the moon was in its waxing phase<\/a> at the time when Khan’s supporters were marching to Islamabad (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

AFP has repeatedly debunked\u00a0misinformation<\/a> about Khan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As supporters of Pakistan’s jailed former leader Imran Khan marched towards the capital Islamabad in early October to call for his release,