Fact Check | Gautam Adani bribery case: Al image of 'Adani's arrest' goes viral

Hyderabad: The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has indicted Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and six others for alleged fraud, bribery and corruption. The charges accuse them of defrauding American investors and orchestrating a bribery scheme to secure a multi-billion-dollar solar energy project awarded by the Indian government.

The alleged scheme reportedly involved renewable energy firms Adani Green and Azure Power, aiming to exploit the opportunity for financial gain. The case highlighted significant concerns over corporate ethics and regulatory compliance. The Adani Group has dismissed the charges against its directors as ‘baseless’.

In this context, an AI-generated image showing cops arresting Gautam Adani in public has gone viral.

Anomalies in AI-generated images

Upon analysis, the AI image featuring Gautam Adani is found to have configurational issues which are common to AI images.

AI-generated images have multiple abnormalities and inconsistencies, such as distortions, irregular details or unrealistic features, which indicate that they are not authentic representations.

This image too displayed several anomalies: the police officer grabbing Adani’s arm has six fingers, (highlighted in a red circle). Adani’s other hand is entirely absent. The left eye of an officer (marked with a blue circle) is inconsistent with the right. The faces of officers (highlighted in yellow and green circles) appear distorted, and another officer (shown in a pink circle) looks like he is wearing a full-face mask, although it is too distorted for an image clicked by a camera. These irregularities indicate significant flaws in the image’s authenticity.

Results of AI-detection tools

An analysis using advanced AI-detection tools confirmed that the image is AI-generated. Hive Moderation identified it as a deepfake with 99.9 per cent certainty, while TrueMedia’s five detection systems also provided substantial evidence supporting this conclusion.

When AI images of Donald Trump went viral

AI images featuring popular personalities tend to go viral more than most.

In August 2023, NewsMeter debunked a viral AI-generated mugshot of Donald Trump. The image was falsely shared as his official mugshot following an indictment by a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, on charges including racketeering and conspiracy.

In March 2023, the BBC debunked three AI-generated images of Donald Trump.

Two depicted police officers arresting him, while the third showed officers chasing him. The first image revealed anomalies like Trump’s unusually short arm and a distorted hand on an officer. In the second, unnatural skin tones and blurred facial features stood out. In the third image, despite the chase, the officers appeared to be looking in a different direction, further exposing the image as artificially generated.

This story was originally published by NewsMeter, and republished by Deccan Herald as part of the Shakti Collective.