In the wake of Hurricane Helene’s devastation in the United States, a surge of misinformation has emerged online. Among the falsehoods spreading are two manipulated images that falsely portray a child in a boat amidst floodwaters.
At first glance, these images appear genuine. They depict a young child wearing a life jacket and holding a dog as rain pours down. However, upon closer examination, it becomes evident that these are deepfakes created using artificial intelligence.
The flaws in the images are hard to miss. One major giveaway is the presence of an extra finger on the child in one of the pictures. Additionally, the child is shown wearing different shirts in the two images and sitting in different types of boats. Even the dog in the photos appears different, with its coat darker in one of the more pixelated versions.
Despite these obvious errors, the images gained traction online. Utah …