Iran is using AI-altered pictures of new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei — amid reports that the successor is too injured to make any public appearance.
A probe of the latest photos published by Iran state-media and on Khamenei’s new X account reveal that they have been edited using online AI tools, said Shayan Sardarizadeh, the Senior journalist at BBC Verify.
“Google’s SynthID finds watermarks in it that indicate it has been edited using Google AI,” Sardarizadeh wrote on X.
The fake photos appeared to be manipulated from years-old photos of Khamenei attending a pro-government rally, the verification expert added.
The X account’s metadata shows that it is based on the Netherlands.
