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| - A rumor circulating online throughout 2024 claimed a picture showed a young boy holding a picture he drew of himself in a meadow, in front of a stream. According to the caption users shared with the image, the boy believed his self-portrait was "ugly."
In an email sent to Snopes on Dec. 12, 2024, a reader requested we look into the authenticity of the image, writing, "FB pic of boy holding 'his drawing' of himself. Questioning authenticity of art versus AI generated."
A reverse-image search to locate shares of the picture found numerous posts, primarily on Facebook. For example, on Nov. 18, a Facebook page named I Love Pets posted, "The boy drew this beautiful picture, at first he was very upset, he thought it was ugly."
One Facebook user replied, about the image of the boy, "So excellent and beautiful. You are a very gifted young man." Another person said, "I think this picture is amazing. This young boy is very talented." A seemingly countless number of users submitted similar comments complimenting the boy's artistic talents.
However, the image of the boy holding the self-portrait was fake, including both the boy and the artwork in his hands. The reader who emailed us correctly wondered if someone created the entire picture with an artificial intelligence (AI) tool. Our reverse-image search located another AI-generated picture showing a different-looking boy also holding a self-portrait, with the same caption.
The posts' caption claimed the boy was upset and believed the portrait was ugly, using this as engagement bait to evoke emotions and prompt users to like, comment, and share the content.
The Russian-language Facebook page named POFU - Good Humor possibly uploaded the first post (since deleted) of the AI-generated picture earlier in the year on Feb. 2. The caption read the same, except in Russian. We contacted the page's owners to ask if they created the image and will update this story if we receive a response.
Signs of the Picture's AI Trickery
One sure sign of the image's inauthenticity pertained to the cut-out nature of the bottom of the boy's self-portrait, which ended prematurely and did not form a straight line similar to the left, top and right sides of the frame. The plants in the room also strangely appeared in front of and behind the portrait, perhaps as a mistake in the AI tool's attempted generation of the nature scene in the boy's drawing and the separate component of the boy holding the artwork. Additionally, a very small and white artifact displayed on the boy's right ear.
Red boxes highlight the signs someone generated the picture with an AI tool.
Further, some users with a trained eye to spot signs of AI-generated pictures — meaning people who have viewed hundreds or thousands such images in the past — might immediately notice its overly-smooth appearance.
We previously reported about other AI-generated images, including pictures of Mickey Mouse dropkicking a toddler at Disneyland, as well as quadruplet sisters posing behind a cake to celebrate their 90th birthday.
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