AI-generated fake historical photos circulate on social media
AI-generated synthetic images depicting historical events are being shared widely on social media platforms including Facebook. Historians and artists warn that the trend risks distorting the historical record.
What happened
Users are sharing AI-generated images on social media platforms such as Facebook that purport to depict historical events. Examples include images claiming to show the Wright brothers after their 1903 first motorized flight, the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963, the Hiroshima atomic bomb explosion on August 6, 1945, the Warsaw Pact invasion of Prague in August 1968, and the ancient Roman Colosseum.
The images have been created using the AI image generation tool Midjourney. One fabricated photograph of the Wright brothers shows them as a smiling blond couple posing before an airplane, contrasting with archival photographs showing two men in flat caps who do not resemble the AI-generated pair. The creator of one fake Wright brothers image revealed in metadata that the AI prompt requested a 'celebratory' atmosphere.
Reported impact
Historians and artists have expressed concern that AI-generated fake historical photographs pose a risk of distorting history. Jo Hedwig Teeuwissen, a Dutch historian who investigates false historical claims under the pseudonym Fake History Hunter on social media, stated that 'AI has caused a tsunami of fake history, particularly in the area of images.'
Marina Amaral, a Brazilian artist specializing in colorizing historical photographs, expressed worry about the fabrication of events too distant to have been photographed or moments in history that are poorly documented.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.