Inaccurate Google AI Overview on Myanmar ex-leader's photo misleads online

"This is not a recent photo," says a Burmese-language Facebook post shared May 1, 2026. "AFP fact check has debunked it as CCTV footage from August 22, 2022."

The attached screenshot shows an AI-generated overview of Aung San Suu Kyi's picture.

It reads in part: "This image shows Aung San Suu Kyi, the former leader of Myanmar, during her detention in 2022. While it has recently circulated on social media as a 'current' photo, fact-checkers from AFP confirmed it is leaked CCTV footage from August 22, 2022."

Image

Screenshot of the false post taken May 6, 2026, with a red X added by AFP

Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained since February 2021 when the military staged a coup that ended a decade-long democracy movement and sparked a civil war in the Southeast Asian nation.

On April 30, 2026, junta chief-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing ordered the 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner to be transferred to house arrest (archived link).

But her son, Kim Aris, says he has still not heard from his mother, who remains massively popular inside Myanmar.

Min Aung Hlaing's office the same day shared the photograph, which depicts the former leader sitting in front of two men, one wearing a police uniform and the other in a military uniform.

AFP journalists in Yangon received the photo through the messaging app Viber. It was also published by state media MRTV (archived link).

"We don't know if it's real or if it's AI," Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyer, Francois Zimeray, said.

"We have had no proof of life, no photos for years, not even any indication that she was actually transferred. We still don't know where she is," he added.

AFP was not able to independently verify the picture released by the junta.

However, AFP has not fact-checked the picture as old, contrary to claims that spread widely on Facebook.

AI mistake

An AFP journalist performed a Google reverse image search of the photo and saw the incorrect search summary on April 30.

But the fact-check article it linked to was published in February.

It concerned a different misrepresented image of Aung San Suu Kyi, where she appears next to former president Win Myint.

Image

Comparison of photo released by the junta in April 2026 (L) and the misrepresented image fact-checked by AFP in February

Google has since updated the AI-generated summary to remove the incorrect reference to AFP's earlier debunk.

A check on May 7 found its description of the picture reads: "This photo, released by Myanmar state media on April 30, 2026, shows deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi after being moved from prison to house arrest in Naypyidaw."

Image

Screenshot taken on May 7 of the updated Google AI overview result

AFP reached out to Google for comment, but a response was not forthcoming.

In a post on its website, the company said the AI feature, launched in 2024, is evolving -- and advised users to double-check responses as AI overviews "can and will make mistakes" (archived link).

Further reverse searches found no earlier versions of the image released by the junta online.

Separate analyses using Google's SynthID and the Verification Plugin, also known as InVID-WeVerify, did not identify clear signs of AI generation or manipulation.

A senior police officer from Myanmar's home affairs ministry told AFP: "This photo is the real one meeting between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, deputy home affairs minister and chief of special branch police."

"I think the photo was taken on the day of the amnesty order when they went there to inform her."

More of our reporting on the unrest in Myanmar can be found here.