AI-generated images of 'giant's skeleton' spread online in Sri Lanka

"A group of geologists found the skeletons of giants in the village of Valukare sella walawe," says a caption of a Facebook post in Sinhala on March 20. 

The images show various large skeletons which appear to have been dug up from a forested area. 

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Screenshot of the false post taken on March 27, 2024

Similar claims were shared elsewhere on Facebook here and here. 

Some comments suggested that these images were AI-generated, while some users seemed to believe the images were real. 

"I don't know these were actually those that have been discovered but there were Helayo (Ancient Sinhalese People) with giant physique during the time of Ravana," a user commented. 

Archaeological excavations continue to make headlines in Sri Lanka as the country is home to the "earliest fossil evidence of Homo Sapiens in South Asia" (archived link). Human remains believed to be over 3,000 years old have also been unearthed in the northern province of Jaffna earlier this year (archived link).                           

However, visual inconsistencies suggest the images have been generated using AI. 

Generated image

Some of the images showed a skeleton with six fingers, while only three or four fingers could be visible in some of the images. Another image also appears to show a woman having an extra arm above her shoulder. 

Specialists have previously told AFP that these defects are the best way to recognise images generated using AI.

Below is a screenshot of the images with the visual inconsistencies highlighted by AFP: 

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Screenshot of the images shared in a false post with visual inconsistencies highlighted by AFP

Keyword search also showed that images have been shared on a Facebook group called "Lightroom Editing" which posts edited photos and AI-generated pictures.

The rules of the group state that "users can only publish images that are edited manually or edited using AI and images and posts you want to edit. If you publish images of a different artist without their permission, those will be removed from the group". 

The post, which has since been deleted, has been shared with the hashtag #aiimages. AFP was able to find a screenshot of the same post shared on another Facebook account which shares memes, as seen below.

The user who posted it has shared other AI-generated images before, published here, here and here (archived links here, here and here). 

The village mentioned in the claim -- Valukare sella walawe -- does not exist in Sri Lanka. The name in fact refers to the male genitalia in Sinhala in colloquial terms.