Picture of police kneeling in front of Muslim men is AI-generated

A picture appearing to show a number of police officers kneeling as though in prayer in front of a group of men in Islamic dress has been shared widely on Threads. 

What the post fails to mention, however, is that the image is AI-generated. Some of the comments in the thread appear to indicate that people believe it to be genuine. 

The same picture has also been shared widely on X (formerly Twitter), in the aftermath of violent disorder which took place across England and Northern Ireland following the fatal stabbing of three children in Southport on 29 July. 

Very quickly an incorrect name, “Ali Al-Shakati”, spread online, alongside claims he had recently come to the UK on a small boat, or was Muslim or Syrian.

In fact, the teenager charged in connection with the attack, Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, was born in Cardiff to parents from Rwanda. 

Aside from the fact that we could find no evidence of the picture shared online being published by a credible source, there are several indications that the photo is AI-generated. 

While the rendering is more realistic than we have seen in other AI-generated images, one clue it is not genuine is that the police officer in the front-right of the image appears to have an extremely long left foot and unusual body proportions. 

The police officer in the front-left of the image’s left leg is also bent in a strange position and appears to be disconnected from his torso. This is particularly obvious if you increase the brightness of the image, as below.

Some versions of the image are less blurry and cropped, which more clearly exposes the fact it is AI-generated. 

In the un-cropped version it is possible to see some irregularities in the facial features of the men standing, such as distorted noses, eyes and mouths, and the strange placement of the police officer’s leg mentioned above is more clearly visible as well as an additional unconnected foot. 

This wider image shows a man standing in religious dress on the far right of the group and a police officer standing on the far left of the group. Both have their hands clasped in front of them but there are clear irregularities with the placement of their fingers—a well known indicator that the image may be AI-generated. 

As we have seen over the course of the recent violent disorder, misinformation like this can stoke tensions and sow confusion in the midst of a quickly-developing news story. 

With this in mind it’s important to make sure you check something is genuine before you share it on social media. To find out more about how to spot AI-generated images you can read our guide. 

Although some claims we see online can seem very obviously false, we sometimes still check them because it’s not always clear to everyone that this is the case. We’ve written a blog explaining why we do this, which you can read here.