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Regime Claims Millions Attended Khamenei Funeral Amid AI Images Shared by Both Sides
France 24 reported that both pro-regime users and opposition supporters circulated AI-generated images of crowds at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's early July funeral services. The images were identified as ChatGPT creations through detection tools and visual discrepancies with verified footage and satellite data.
Jul 8, 11:32 AM·1m read1 source
France 24Audio version
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-Israeli bombing campaign on Iran. Iranian authorities stated that several million people attended, though independent verification of the numbers was not possible. A pro-regime social media user posted a July 4 video claiming to show a large crowd at Tehran's Grand Mosalla Mosque, where the body lay in state.
The video received more than 370,000 views on X. The dome in the video appeared beige, while a France 24 video filmed the same day showed the actual dome as blue, and an arch between the minarets visible in the real footage was absent. Other pro-regime accounts shared an image of a crowd gathered near Azadi Tower that accumulated more than 100,000 views and appeared in several African media outlets.
SynthID identified the image as generated by ChatGPT. A July 6 satellite image from Soar showed no trees near the square's exits and no buildings to the south, contradicting details in the AI version. Opposition supporters of Reza Pahlavi posted an image depicting rapper Toomaj Salehi at the funeral holding an Iranian flag and being interviewed by a regime-linked agency.
SynthID confirmed it was created by ChatGPT, and the microphone displayed illegible, non-Persian text. Salehi opposes the regime and is not a supporter of the monarchy.
