Fact Check: AI-generated images of Shami and Sania are passed of as real
Two adorable photos of Mohammed Shami and Sania Mirza are widely being shared with the claim that the two sportspersons are in a relationship.
A few months ago, social media was flooded with the news of Indian cricketer Mohammed Shami getting married to tennis legend Sania Mirza after she got divorced from former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik.
Shami dismissedthe rumours saying this is all fabricated news. While appearing on a YouTube show, ‘Unplugged’, the cricketer slammed those who spread false information for the sake of meme-making. He advised the social media users to be considerate while making memes about other’s lives. After her divorce, Sania is now living in Dubai with her son.
Around the same time, a few posts showing an edited pic of Sania and Shami in the wedding dress went viral. The Telugu Post fact check team had debunked the viral claim here.
As everyone is soaking in the festive season of Christmas, two different photos of Sania and Shami are going viral on social media. The first pic shows Shami wearing a green and red coloured holiday season sweater while Sania is shown in a supposed red blouse and saree and wearing a red santa cap on head. While the second pic shows Sania in a white top and Shami can be seen wearing a red t-shirt. The post shared by Cricket.Guru on Facebook has garnered over 453K likes, 8.4K comments and it has been reshared over 1.5K times by other users.
The viral post has a caption, “Lovely picture of mohammed shami and sania mirza in Dubai”
Here’s the claim link. The screenshot of the viral post can be seen here.
Fact Check:
During the investigation, the Telugu Post fact check team found the claim to be fabricated and false.
When we searched with the relevant keywords, we did not find any information or article on the supposed meeting of two versatile sportspersons Sania Mirza and Mohammed Shami. We then explored the social media handles of both the stars but didn’t find any such image.
A closer look at the viral images reveal that these are not real photos. It is a known fact that Sania loves ear piercings. Last November, she got another ear piercing at her home in Dubai.
A comparison of Sania’s recent photographs with the viral ones reveal that the tennis star’s ear piercing is missing.
Similarly, we all know that Shami recently got a new hairstyle by celebrity stylist Aalim Hakim and the viral pics lack this detail.
We tried three AI-detection tools including Hive Moderation, Is it AI and TrueMedia and the result showed that this image is on an average 88 percent likely created using AI. The analysis by TrueMedia concluded that the image has substantial evidence of manipulation.
Hive Moderation analysis:
Is it AI analysis: