Fact Check: AI generated image shared as railway station in Kerala decorated for Onam
Amid the Onam celebrations in Kerala, X users are sharing pictures of a railway line and a train decorated with brightly-coloured flowers and floral patterns. On a bridge above the train, the words “Kasaragod-Trivandrum” are written.
Amid the Onam celebrations in Kerala, X users are sharing pictures of a railway line and a train decorated with brightly-coloured flowers and floral patterns. On a bridge above the train, the words “Kasaragod-Trivandrum” are written.
The tweets shared read: “This is a picture of a railway station in Kerala specially decorated for Onam. The flowers near the tracks are real and have been planted specially for the occasion. Onam is celebrated from 20 August to 2 September.”
FACT CHECK:
Thiruvananthapuram's divisional railway manager (DRM) debunked the claim by calling it fake. His tweet clearly mentions the viral picture has been edited to falsely claim that it is from a railway station in Kerala. It further stated that the image of the train is from Kyoto in Japan.
“Fake news alert! An edited picture of a colourful train is circulating in social media with a claim that is from a railway station in Kerala. The claim is false. The train in the image is from Kyoto, Japan. Do not fall for fake news,” the tweet read.
Taking cue from this, using reverse image search we looked for more pictures and came across a picture on a stock image website called PNG tree. The title of the image said, "Rainbow painted train that leaves the Kyoto background". We found more similar images of such colorful trains running in Japan on the stock image website.
The picture was first shared on Facebook in July by Aneesh Chakkottil. The viral picture carries the watermark of Copper and Black, an advertising agency that Chakkottil works at in the United Arab Emirates. In the comment section, Chakkottil clarifies to users that the picture was made using the generative AI tool to create the image of the floral-painted train and station.
We also ran the image on AI-detection websites and found the image as AI-generated with 90 per cent.
Evidently, it is clear that the viral image of a floral-painted train and decorated railway station does not show a real station in Kerala.