Images of actor Dwayne Johnson performing Hindu ritual were generated by AI

This article is more than one year old.
Published on June 9, 2023 at 11:29
3 min read
By Uzair RIZVI, AFP India

Images appearing to show Hollywood star Dwayne Johnson dressed as a Hindu holy man have been shared in multiple social media posts in India that falsely claim the former professional wrestler had converted to Hinduism. The images were originally posted by an Indian visual artist who told AFP he created them using the AI tool Midjourney.

"Hollywood actor and former WWE professional wrestler Dwayne 'Johnson, 'The Rock', has converted to sanatana dharma. Whoever learns about sanatana dharma adopts it whole-heartedly #sanatanareligion, #sanatanihindu", reads the Hindi-language caption of a tweet shared here on May 29, 2023.

Sanatana dharma, or "eternal religion" is a term used by Hindus to refer to their own religion.

The tweet includes two images that appear to show Johnson performing "aarti", a Hindu ritual of worship.

Screenshot of the false tweet, captured on June 2, 2023

Similar Hindi-language posts claiming Johnson had converted to Hinduism were shared with one of the images on Twitter here and here; and on Facebook here.

The claim was also shared in Bengali-language Facebook posts here and here.

Comments on the posts suggest some users believed the actor had changed religions.

"Welcome to Hinduism, my superstar," read one comment.

Another said: "All the best, welcome to Hinduism, praise to the Hindu God Rama."

Johnson's team did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment. However, he has not posted about converting to Hinduism on any of his official accounts on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter as of June 9 (archived link).

'AI concept art'

A keyword search on Google led to a tweet posted here on May 29 by a user who had also shared the image (archived link).

"This beautiful portrait is made with the help of AI by @bhargav_valera, thanks for sharing," reads the tweet.

Bhargav Valera is an Indian visual artist (archive link).

The images being shared alongside the false claim were posted on his Facebook page here in April 2022 (archived link).

It is captioned: "Dwayne Johnson as a Sadhu (holy man) worshipping in the mandir (temple) @therock how is it? AI concept Art". The caption is followed by hashtags for AI and the AI tool Midjourney.

Valera told AFP that the images are not genuine photos.

"Those pictures are made by me on the Midjourney AI tool," he said on May 5.

Valera's Instagram page includes many similar AI-generated images of other celebrities, such as actor Arnold Schwarzenegger also dressed as a Hindu priest (archived link).

Visual inconsistencies

Despite the meteoric progress in generative AI, errors still show up in AI-generated content.

The image being falsely shared online of Johnson, for example does not include the actor's distinctive chest and arm tattoos.

Below is a screenshot comparison between one of the AI-generated image (left) and a video from Johnson's official Twitter account that was posted on May 7 (archived link).

Screenshot comparison between the AI-generated image being falsely shared online (left) and a video from Johnson's official Twitter account (right)

AFP has previously debunked other AI-generated images here and here.

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