AI-generated image fuels Epstein conspiracy theories
- Published on February 9, 2026 at 18:24
- 2 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
As the US Justice Department releases tranches of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide while awaiting trial in 2019, social media users are claiming a new image supposedly captured in Israel shows the late financier alive with grown-out hair and a beard. But the image is a fabrication; the uncropped original from a Reddit channel dedicated to AI content contains a watermark for Google's Gemini, along with other indications that it was created using artificial intelligence.
"Israel faked his death," says a February 5, 2026 post sharing the visual on X. "Epstein is still alive and walking the streets of Tel Aviv."
Similar posts sent the image rocketing across X and other platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Threads after the US government on January 30 released more than three million new documents mentioning numerous powerful figures, including President Donald Trump.
Conspiracy theories about Epstein have proliferated online since he died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
A 2023 Justice Department report said a medical examiner's autopsy determined that Epstein's "cause of death was hanging and the manner of death was suicide" -- a fact officials have repeatedly reiterated in the years since (archived here).
The image spreading online, meanwhile, is not the proof of life that internet users are holding it up to be.
Reverse image searches in Google surfaced uncropped versions of the same image that feature Google Gemini's signature sparkle watermark in the corner -- including what appears to be the earliest iteration of it posted February 1, 2026 to the Reddit forum "r/hardaiimages" (archived here).
In comments replying to other users asking about the image's source and veracity, the poster noted that "some people are forgetting in what subreddit are we in right now" (archived here).
"The Gemini watermark is literally right there," they wrote in one comment.
In another responding to a user who asked if they generated it, the poster answered (archived here): "I did, actually with Gemini. You can see the Gemini logo at the bottom right of each picture. I didn't think it would become so viral."
The reverse image searches AFP performed for the visual also returned a result saying it was "made with Google AI," and Gemini detected a SynthID -- an invisible watermark Google says is meant to identify AI content created using its tools -- attached to the picture.
Additional indications that the image is an AI-generated fake include the mistaken placement of the green indicator at the top of a traffic light, as well as a road sign that contains a faulty Hebrew translation for "Tel Aviv" and is missing the Arabic that would typically appear.
Authentic stock photos of the city's signs show different Hebrew and Arabic characters (archived here and here).
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation about Epstein here.
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