Sean "Diddy" Combs went viral after a photo showed the embattled rapper allegedly hanging out with former U.S. President Donald Trump and late convicted trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
The photo in question, which Facebook has since flagged as False Information, featured young women spending time with Combs, Trump and Epstein. The upper left part of the snap also showed the text "Bible Study!"
According to Facebook's prompt message, "independent fact-checkers say this information has no basis in fact" and that users can choose whether to see the post or not. The social media site also provides a fact-check story titled, "Fact Check: NON Authentic Photo Of P. Diddy, Trump, Jeffrey Epstein Sitting With Young Women Shows Signs of AI Manipulation."
Lead Stories noted that the photo in question made rounds online for the first time in 2023. However, the image only showed Trump and Epstein smiling brightly as they sat on a couch with two young women.
On a May 2023 analysis posted by Lead Stories, the website concluded that the image was AI-generated.
"Examining the image with human eyes shows some clear deficits in the scene, most notably the absence of Epstein's legs, a head at the back of the couch, and an inexplicable number of hands at Epstein's shoulder. Some of the hands have the characteristic AI malformations that were present in recent versions of Midjourney," the website explained.
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Lead Stories added that the latest version, which displayed Combs, exhibited clear signs of AI manipulation as the "I'll Be Missing You" rapper's left hand seemingly has six blurry fingers. The color of Combs' photo also showed apparent differences, which USA Today found to be AI-generated through its fact-checking in April.
"Combs was digitally added to an image that experts agree was already AI-generated. Incongruities in the limbs and hands of all the image's subjects indicate the picture is not legitimate," USA Today's findings read, confirming the photo was altered.
The news site also shared the result from the AI detection tool Hive Moderation, which found that the first photo sans Combs was also 99.9 percent likely to be AI-generated.
Walter Scheirer, a University of Notre Dame engineering professor, told USA Today that Combs' blurry body parts indicated that the photo was falsified.
Computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, James O'Brien, shared a similar response in an email to USA Today.
"It's possible that there are some people ducked down behind the couch that are sticking their arms into the scene, but that seems odd and unlikely," said O'Brien. "It also looks like Epstein's right arm is very long to reach behind Trump and around the young woman in the red shorts."
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