The images circulating on the web are not real. They were all generated by artificial intelligence technology
In the Ukrainian segment of social networks, various photos are actively being distributed, which allegedly show Ukrainian military personnel, praying for salvation on their knees.The authors of the publications call on users to pray for the salvation of Ukrainian soldiers: «Avdiivka is asking for prayers… Lord God, save and have mercy on our defenders. Give them strength and patience… Amen!»
Over the past few weeks, StopFake analysts have observed the spread of various images on the social network depicting Ukrainian military personnel with a call to pray for their fate. Such publications are mainly distributed by bot-like accounts (see examples here and here). Most likely, these publications are distributed with the aim of demoralizing Ukrainians against the background of fierce fighting for Avdiivka in Donetsk region.
In fact, these images are not real. They were all created using artificial intelligence technology. Neural networks such as Midjourney, Bing Image Creator, DALL-E or DeepAI and others are capable of independently creating completely new content or transforming existing content.
With the help of services like AI or Not, you can check whether an image was created by artificial intelligence or not. However, it is even possible to distinguish real photos from artificially created ones without special tools by carefully examining all the details in the picture.
StopFake journalists checked the images circulating on the web with the AI or Not tool and found that all of them were most likely generated by a neural network.
The fact that an image was generated artificially is indicated by many errors. For example, on the image of a girl in a military uniform in one of the photographs there is an incorrect image of the limbs (one leg, unnatural position of the fingers); an unknown tourniquet pouch; the absence of a machine gun body and buttstock (besides this, this weapon does not resemble any of those used in the Ukrainian Armed Forces); incorrect image of the sleeve chevron (its size and the colors of Ukraine’s flag). In addition, the camouflage pattern of the uniform in which the people in the photo are dressed is not used in the Ukrainian army, and does not resemble any real camouflage coloration at all. The figures in the background have the same errors: a disproportionate image or the absence of some parts of weapons and limbs, a random pixel. Also in the photo you can see an uncharacteristic cross with additional crosses on the sides and a blurred image of the crossbar.
Read about how to check the authenticity of a photo on the StopFake website.
