Claims to show flower-like ice crystals forming on the surface were virally shared and reacted to by social media users. However, the Fact Crescendo team found that the narration attached to the video clip was AI-generated.
Let’s look at the claim in detail.
Social Media Claim
A viral photo showing the river water gleaming brightly in the sunlight has been posted recently by a Facebook page on January 16, 2024. The rays reflect on the translucent ice structures that appear like flowers, enchanting the viewers. Such posts have been circulated several times, with mixed reactions and expressions from Facebook users.
The following is a snapshot captured from the Facebook page above, who wrote, “The formation of ‘ice flowers’ is a beautiful natural phenomenon in the Great Lakes region of North America!!”.
Such photos have also been posted and found on many Facebook social networks. The full confirmation message is below.
On an Instagram Post, a lot of AI-generated pictures of frost flowers on the water’s surface have been making the rounds. The captions for these photos all say that the photographs are of frost flowers growing on the Songhua River’s surface.
Instagram Post | Archived Link
Fact Check
Fact Crescendo Cambodia reviewed and verified the above claim through a Google Reverse Image Search, which brought us to the following facts:
Our search for ice flowers on the Songhua River led us to a post on the People's Daily, China Facebook page from December 2022 with the title, “Frost flowers,” which are flower-shaped ice crystals that blanket the Songhua River in Heilongjiang, Northeast China.
The following is a full video showing “Frost flowers,” flower-shaped ice crystals in NE China's Heilongjiang which is unlikely the same with the above photo claim.
People’s Daily, China Link | Archived Link
According to Hive Moderation, an automated content moderation software, it uses machine learning models to moderate visual, textual, and audio content in real time, returning tagged metadata. The above photo claimed that the images were indeed AI-generated.
The following screenshot captured from the above website detector shows the photo claim above is 99.9% likely to be AI-generated.
HIVE Moderation Link | Archived Link
Also, in January 2024, Snopes verified the claim and proved that the photos are artificial intelligence (AI) generated.
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Conclusion
Fact Crescendo Cambodia has found that the photos posted by the users above are digitally altered. The photo has been generated and produced by artificial intelligence technology (AI) only.
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Title:The photo shows the formation of “Ice flowers” generated by AI
Written By: Fact Crescendo Team
Result: Altered