Fact Check: Photo Purportedly Shows Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Cuddling
Claim: A photo shared online in May 2024 authentically shows Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg rubbing noses and cuddling.
Rating: On May 14, 2024, a Reddit user posted a close-up photo seemingly showing X owner Elon Musk cuddling and rubbing noses with Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg. The Reddit user said the image needed investigating as they were confused about whether it was generated using artificial intelligence: "Is this photo AI? I've heard people say it is, I've heard people say it's from way back in 2019, and I don't know what to believe. I think the crew needs to do an entire investigation on this photograph." We need this photograph to be investigated by u/Zimtiki in h3h3productions. X users made comparable comments, with one saying it was real and another writing: "I don't think this is AI generated."
AI Image Detection and Verdict
However, Snopes put the picture through two AI-image detectors and both showed an extremely high likelihood of the photo being created using AI, which is why we have rated the image as "Fake." The picture was also clearly not real. If it was, reputable media outlets would have likely written news articles about it, but Snopes found no evidence of such reports.
earliest iteration we found on social media was in a collection of similar AI-generated images of the billionaire pair canoodling on Facebook that was posted on Jan. 5, 2024.
Public Response
Another X user, whose post had amassed more than 7.9 million views at the time of this writing, also stated the image was AI-generated. "If we make enough pictures like this, AI generated images will certainly be banned from the platform," they wrote.
For further reference, you can access the following links:
- AI Image Detector - a Hugging Face Space by Umm-Maybe
- Elon Musk Mark Zuckerberg Cuddling - Google Search
Is It AI?. Accessed 14 May 2024.
Stay informed and cautious about the authenticity of online images and news.
