Der Spiegel Fooled by Iranian AI Images
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AI Images Infiltrate German Media
Der Spiegel, one of Germany's leading magazines, along with other influential media outlets in the country, has recently found itself embroiled in a controversy involving images generated by artificial intelligence (AI). These images, used in their coverage of Iran, were published without the editorial teams being aware of their artificial origin.
Neuramancer's Analysis
The digital forensics company Neuramancer was called in to examine five suspicious images. Among these, three were deemed likely to have been generated by AI. These images include an aerial view of an Iranian aircraft carrier, a photograph of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, alongside his son, and an image of an embassy building in Niger. This discovery prompted a swift reaction from German news agencies.
Reactions from News Agencies
In response to this situation, German agencies such as dpa, Imago, and ddp decided to block the SalamPix agency, the source of the incriminating images. Der Spiegel also took action by removing all affected images from its publications and announced an internal investigation to understand how these images were integrated into their content.
Origins of the Images
The images in question came from the SalamPix agency and were distributed to German media through the French agency Abaca Press. Der Spiegel revealed that several other prominent German media outlets, such as Zeit, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, and Deutsche Welle, were also affected by this dissemination of potentially manipulated images.
Detected Errors
Neuramancer highlighted anomalies in the images, such as inconsistent shadows in the photograph of the aircraft carrier, which reinforced suspicions of AI manipulation. Another image, purportedly depicting an explosion in Tehran, bore traces of the AI tool Flux 2, indicating digital intervention. Only one image, showing Iranian schoolgirls, was deemed authentic and unaltered.
Reactions and Responsibilities
Jean-Michel Psaila, CEO of Abaca Press, admitted that SalamPix had lacked rigor in its verification process. An Iranian photographer acknowledged having introduced images from a platform linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) into the agency's system without marking them as such.
The Role of the IRGC
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a powerful military force in Iran, is also involved in managing a vast propaganda network. This network includes news agencies, media production units, and cyber divisions. They have played a central role in the violent repression of recent protests in Iran, with estimates of civilian deaths ranging from 7,000 to 36,500, according to Amnesty International and other human rights organizations. Recently, the Tehran Times, a regime-aligned media outlet, published a satellite image claiming to show the destruction of an American radar facility in Qatar, which turned out to be an AI manipulation of Google Earth.
The Investigation Continues
The case was brought to light by the Dutch news agency ANP, which had already blocked around 1,000 images from SalamPix. RTL Netherlands also reported on this incident. In Germany, the dpa Picture Alliance, Imago, and ddp followed suit by blocking SalamPix. Der Spiegel reaffirmed its commitment to avoiding the use of AI-generated images in its reporting, emphasizing that this constitutes a clear taboo in news journalism.
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