Girl with spelling errors not in protest

The young girl holding a sign with spelling errors was not present at any demonstration. The image of her was created using artificial intelligence and later shared by various public figures and organizations.

AI images spread through social media

Since mid-October, social media accounts with many followers have combined real photos of protests with AI-generated or edited images. These images have been widely shared without verification by elected officials and a police union.

Student protests and AI-generated content

High school students have been blocking their schools and sharing photos of daily demonstrations since September 17. One of the first images to go viral was a portrait of a young girl with a sign that had spelling errors.

Verification of AI-generated images

France 24’s Observateurs confirmed that the image of the girl with the sign was created using an AI tool from OpenAI. The sign itself was generated by an AI model called DALL·E.

SynthID watermark used for detection

Google DeepMind developed the SynthID watermark, which was adopted by OpenAI for its ChatGPT images. This tool allows users to verify if an image was created or edited using AI.

Verification of Pink Panther image

Spanish fact-checkers at Newtral used the SynthID Detector to confirm that the image of the Pink Panther was AI-generated. CheckNews also confirmed that the image was created or edited using Google AI.

Origins of AI-generated images

Libération traced the first use of these AI-generated images to an internet artist who shared them on the Klek Studio platform. The images were not originally from Paris and were later edited to appear as if they were taken there.

Limitations of AI detection tools

Google warns that its SynthID Detector is not a general AI detection tool and cannot identify images created by models without the SynthID watermark. Some AI-generated images remain undetectable.

False images shared by officials

Elected officials and a police union have shared AI-generated images without verifying their authenticity. One regional councilor of the National Rally posted the image of the girl with the sign and commented on it.

Impact on public perception

Despite warnings from AI content detectors and internet users, AI-generated images have been widely shared. Some media outlets have reported on these images without clearly stating that they may be fake or edited.