A flotilla carrying humanitarian support and activists left Barcelona for Gaza in late August with the purpose of breaking Israel’s blockade. Just a few days later, AI-generated photographs of a fleet of boats boasting Palestinian flags had been handed off because the travelling vessels. However one of many footage bears the watermark of Google’s Gemini instrument, whereas the ships within the AI photographs are totally different colors than these in AFP pictures of the flotilla.
“A whole lot of volunteers of varied nationalities and religions got here from 44 united international locations to sail to convey meals and medical support to the folks of Gaza,” reads a Malay-language Fb submit on September 3, 2025.
It options a picture of a fleet of boats, every carrying an extreme variety of Palestinian flags.
Screenshot of the false submit taken on September 10, 2025, with a crimson X added by AFP
Related posts had been shared a whole lot of occasions on Fb and Instagram.
One other picture with a unique view of the flag-laden boats additionally circulated, with one of many vessels boasting a banner that learn “Flotilla World Sumud” on its bow.
The caption says it confirmed “a whole lot of volunteers from 44 international locations carrying meals and medication to Gaza whereas placing their lives on the road”.
Screenshot of the false submit taken on September 10, 2025 with a crimson X added by AFP
The pictures unfold after the World Sumud Flotilla’s fleet departed Barcelona on August 31 with round 20 boats carrying support and activists, together with Swedish local weather campaigner Greta Thunberg (archived hyperlink).
The group goals to interrupt via Israel’s blockade of Gaza, the place the United Nations has declared famine in components of the territory and warned that 500,000 folks face “catastrophic” situations (archived hyperlink).
Organisers mentioned two of its boats that had been set to depart from Tunisia had been struck by drones in early September, earlier than setting off for Gaza on September 13 (archived right here and right here).
Nevertheless, each circulating photographs are AI-generated.
A Google reverse picture search discovered photographs had been labelled “Made with Google AI” in its “About this picture” characteristic.
The power to detect AI-generated photographs is predicated on Google’s SynthID know-how, which was launched by its DeepMind AI lab in 2023 (archived right here and right here).
A star icon on the underside proper of one of many photographs additionally signifies it was generated utilizing Google’s AI assistant Gemini (archived hyperlink).
Screenshots from Google Photos, with the AI labels highlighted by AFP
AFP pictures of the flotilla additionally present the boats have black or white hulls — not blue as depicted within the AI-generated photographs.
Not one of the vessels carried banners studying “Flotilla World Sumud”.
AFP
AFP
AFP has beforehand debunked false claims concerning the struggle in Gaza right here.
