An image created with AI purportedly showing Earth from space has been circulated online with the false claim that it was captured during NASA’s Artemis II mission, which concluded earlier this month.
Facebook and Instagram users shared, opens new tab the image in early April, describing it as the “first image of Earth captured by Artemis II from space.”
Artemis II sent, opens new tab four astronauts on April 1 on a mission around the moon for the first time since 1972, and they splashed down in the Pacific on April 10.
But the image was created with AI, opens new tab, according to Google’s SynthID detection tool. SynthID detects digital watermarks, opens new tab embedded in content generated by Google AI models.
The Facebook page “Ethereal Earth,” whose creator states, opens new tab in its bio: “Some images may be AI depictions,” originally shared, opens new tab the image on April 2. The administrator of the page could not be reached for comment.
The image does not appear in NASA’s catalogue of official Artemis II mission images, opens new tab or in any publicly released content related to the mission or any other mission by the agency.
NASA released the first image, opens new tab of Earth from Artemis II on April 3, with a photo dated April 2. On April 7, the space agency published, opens new tab the mission’s “Earthset” photographs, opens new tab showing the planet dropping behind the moon during the crew’s lunar fly-by on April 6.
When approached for comment, NASA referred Reuters to official imagery, opens new tab and an April 7 press release, opens new tab announcing the publication of the first Artemis II moon fly-by photographs.
VERDICT
Synthetic media. Google’s SynthID tool flagged the image as created with AI.
