A photo collage featuring two purported images of Indian cricketer KL Rahul with his wife and a kid was recently shared on social media. In the first image, KL Rahul was seen alongside his wife, Bollywood actress Athiya Shetty, and a newborn child. The second image only featured him caressing the baby.
Users sharing the collage claimed it was the Indian cricketer’s original family photo following the birth of his daughter on March 24. However, the PTI Fact Check Desk investigation found that the photo collage was AI-generated. The social media user shared the AI-generated collage with a false claim.
Claim
A Facebook user named Jeney Debbarma shared a collage on March 25, showing images of Indian cricketer KL Rahul. The first image featured KL Rahul with his wife and a newborn child, while the second image showed him holding and caressing the baby. The user claimed that these were the first official pictures of KL Rahul’s family after the birth of their daughter on March 24.
The user wrote in the caption, "KL Rahul and Athiya Shetty have been blessed with a baby girl. Many congratulations to both of them. "
Here is the link and archive link to the post, along with a screenshot:
The Desk ran the image through Google Lens and found that multiple users had shared it with a similar claim. Two such posts were found here and here, with their archived versions available here and here, respectively.
In the next part of the investigation, the Desk carefully analyzed the viral collage containing images of KL Rahul and his family. The Desk discovered multiple inconsistencies, indicating that it might be AI-generated or digitally altered. For instance, subtle distortions in the facial features of KL Rahul and Athiya Shetty and the baby’s appearance irregularities were noticeable. Additionally, the images in the collage had an excessively glossy finish, a common characteristic of AI-generated visuals.
Below is a screenshot highlighting these key findings:
Next, taking cues from the above generated inputs, the Desk neatly cropped the two images included in the collage and separately ran them through ‘Was It AI’, an AI detection tool. The tool detected a substantial presence of AI-generated elements in both images.
Below are the screenshots of the results.
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that the collage depicting images of KL Rahul, Athiya Shetty, and their newborn child was AI-generated and not real.
CLAIM The photo collage shows Indian cricketer KL Rahul, his wife Athiya Shetty, and their newborn daughter. FACT The collage depicting KL Rahul with his family was AI-generated and shared with a false claim. |
CONCLUSION
Multiple social media users recently shared a collage claiming to show Indian cricketer KL Rahul with his wife Athiya Shetty and their newborn daughter. However, PTI Fact Check’s investigation found that the viral photos were AI-generated and misleadingly presented as real images on social media.
(Note: This story was first published by PTI and is republished by ETV Bharat as part of Shakti Collective.)
