AI-generated images of Bondi gunman used to spread false information
ABC NEWS Verify has analysed instances of AI-generated images in the wake of the Bondi attack. (ABC NEWS Verify)
Falsehoods and conspiracy theories are spreading online following the horrific Bondi Beach attack.
ABC NEWS Verify has analysed three instances where AI-generated images, or in one case a real image taken out of context, are attempting to twist the narrative on social media.
Gunman deepfaked
An AI-generated image of gunman Naveed Akram sitting at an outdoor cafe in the Philippines has been used to spread false information online.
A post on X using the image that has been seen by ABC NEWS Verify claims it shows the gunman sitting across the table from the defence attaché of India to the Philippines, Captain Chandra Kant Kothari.
ABC NEWS Verify has confirmed the image was made using tech giant Google's AI tools, and there is no suggestion that Captain Kant Kothari ever had any contact with the gunman.
The image returns a positive result for the company's invisible watermark when tested in its Synth ID detector.
Visual analysis also reveals hallmarks of AI generation, including physical and logical errors.
The bucket of chicken placed in front of the two people has garbled text and there is also an indoor desk lamp on the table outside.
This is an AI-generated image that falsely suggests Naveed Akram met with the defence attaché of India to the Philippines before the attack. (Supplied)
In the background, the general streetscape is merged together with no details and cars are rendered on top of each other.
On Tuesday, ABC News revealed that the gunmen, Sajid and Naveed Akram, travelled to the Philippines to receive "military-style training" in the month before the attack.
Social media users falsely claimed that the image was evidence of contact between Indian authorities and the gunmen prior to the attack.
But the image offers no evidence because the scene depicted did not happen.
A Facebook fake
False narratives about the real identity of the gunman have continued to swirl online.
They include widely circulated "leaked" screenshots that have spread on social media of a fake Facebook profile that purports to belong to a man named "David Cohen", who at first glance shares a strong likeness to Naveed Akram.
However, the screenshot of the fake profile appears to have been created using AI tools, adapting real photos of the gunman that depict him in fabricated photos wearing a Jewish yarmulke and attending a bar mitzvah.
An AI-generated image falsely purporting to show a Facebook page. (Supplied)
Despite the signs of unauthenticity, numerous social media users, some of whom are based outside of Australia according to social media platform transparency tools, have shared copies of the "leaked" screenshot as apparent evidence that the gunman is Jewish.
The image has been seen across various posts more than 2 million times.
A pro-Palestine Instagram account attributed as the source in some popular versions of the screenshot shared on social media platforms has since apologised for sharing the image, admitting it was "AI-generated".
The falsehood feeds into antisemitic conspiracies implying an Israeli link to the gunmen without evidence or basis in reality.
Police response
Multiple accounts on social media are posting misogynistic attacks directed at some of the female police officers who responded to the shooting.
Some accounts have screenshotted misleading images, criticising the officers or implying that they were simply hiding from the gunmen — rather than taking cover.
Verified video of the attack shows their actual actions.
One video shows a female officer, wearing a cap, being directly engaged by the younger gunman — all while trying to keep two bystanders behind the cover of a car.
The gunman shoots at a female police officer. (Supplied)
This officer appears to be the first to step onto the footbridge after Naveed Akram was injured and the attack ended.
She approaches slowly as there appears to be confusion about the involvement of a bystander who has, from out of sight, run onto the bridge before police.
Another female officer, filmed just under 40 metres away from the other during the attack, arrives at the scene shortly after.
Both help stop fights breaking out between bystanders at the crime scene — despite coming under direct fire moments before.
One helps to secure the scene and the other removes one of the guns used in the attack.
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon called out the misleading use of images by individuals spreading disinformation about the police response.
"That type of misinformation, that type of taking situations out of context, is incredibly harmful," he told 2GB, while praising the actions of one of the female police officers.
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