Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised
BOCA RATON, FLORIDA: Political commentator Ben Shapiro was roasted online after social media users questioned the authenticity of a graphic image showing burned Jewish babies shared by him on X (formerly Twitter).
The Daily Wire co-founder shared the image following Hamas' attack on Israel, writing, "You wanted pictorial proof of dead Jewish babies? Here it is, you pathetic Jew-haters. Israel will minimize civilian casualties."
Shapiro further added, "But Israel will not allow the pieces of human s**t who did this to live. Every ounce of blood spilled in Gaza is on Hamas."
While social media users were left horrified by the image, many doubted it's credibility and wondered if the image was AI-generated.
Social media personality, Jackson Hinkle, took to X to call out Shapiro's post. He tweeted the results of an online 'AI or not' test on the image, which said it was "generated by AI" alongwith a screenshot of Shapiro's original tweet.
His tweet read, "Holy sh*t The image that Ben Shapiro tried to pass off as a “burnt baby corpse” was an AI-generated fake image!"
Was Ben Shapiro's 'burnt baby' image real or fake?
Shapiro has continued to call out Hamas' attack on Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war that has reportedly left over 3200 people dead on both sides, at the time of writing, per CBS.
Amid the ongoing conflict, numerous unverified claims suggested that Palestinian militants "beheaded babies," although an independent confirmation of such a massacre is yet to be provided.
Meanwhile, the official X account of Israeli PM shared a series of graphic and brutal photos of babies allegedly "murdered and burned" by Hamas.
"Here are some of the photos Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken," the post read.
"Warning: These are horrifying photos of babies murdered and burned by the Hamas monsters. Hamas is inhuman. Hamas is ISIS," it added.
Shortly after, Shapiro used one of the images shared by PM Netanyahu's office showing allegedly "burnt babies" to call out Hamas' attack on Israel.
However, a note from the X community suggested that the images might allegedly be AI-generated.
"Readers added context they thought people might want to know," the disclaimer on the X community note read.
"This photo is AI generated. Uploading the image to a GAN detector site (aiornot.com) proves the verdict," the note claimed.
"You can also lookout at the tell-tale signs such as distorted fingers which is a usual indicator of AI generated pictures," it continued.
"This picture also doesn't show a clear representation of the claim," the note mentioned.
Some users went on to claim that the image of the burnt baby were actually edited after being sourced from an original photo of a puppy rescue.
In a now-deleted X post, user @stellarman22, claimed to have edited the puppy image using the photo of an AI-generated pooch.
"It took me 5 seconds to make this. Not hard to make a convincing fake photo anymore. Videos are harder to fake but they will never show a video of the proof," @stellarman22 mentioned.
However, X user @Snafu212 opined, "Everyone is talking about Ben Shapiro posting an AI photo and saying the puppy is the original. Although I'm not 100% sure about the pic on the left the dog just looks fake."
"A clean dog, in a dirty bag, on a blood stained stretcher next to someone covered in blood," the user added.
X user @AbrahamLinkedIn tested the AI checker using a real-life image and wrote, "I took a picture of a pen on my desk and it said it was AI generated. the website doesn't seem reliable in the slightest. I then put the baby pic through another AI detector and it gave me the opposite result."
Surprisingly, before Shapiro deleted his post, the X community had attached a different note below the alleged "burnt baby" photo, which mentioned that AI detectors can be inaccurate.
The note also confirmed that the same image was also posted by the official X account of the Israeli PM.
Internet questions the authenticity of Ben Shapiro's 'burnt baby' post
Several social media users questioned the authenticity of the 'burnt baby' photo Shapiro posted.
"It’s going to be hard to trust any photos now that AI is here. Manipulation is a part of any war. The used to drop leaflets, now they fake photos," one user said.
"Gotta question all nowadays," one mentioned. "Damn Bens good with AI like dat ?!" another asked.
One said, "Ben, you're one of the few guys on X whose posts consistently include a community note. Either Musk paid you to promote their community note feature, or your credibility as an editor is none."
Another added, "I know things are overwealming (sic) right now but we have to make sure it is fact first before action."
One user mentioned, "Listen I’m just gonna say it… photographs don’t prove anything in 2023. Could be easily faked. I’m not saying it is or it isn’t, I’m just saying photographs are so easily staged and manipulated that they aren’t conclusive proof of anything."
While another commented, "Yelling at your followers won't do anything to help your people. Why not enlist if you feel this strongly?"
