Fact Check: Viral image of rare blooming Monkey Flower is AI-generated

Hyderabad: Several social media users have shared an image of three cute flowers that resemble animal's faces with misleading claims.

The viral post caption claims that the image shows a Himalayan flower called the Monkey Flower that blooms once in 20 years. It is unlikely that these flowers are real.

Let’s find out.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim to be false as the viral image is AI-generated.

We started our investigation by performing a keyword search on the web to find out about the monkey flower. We found an original image of the Himalayan monkey flower on Pinterest. There was no similarity between the viral image and the original image of the flower.

Moving forward, we performed a reverse image search using the viral image and found it published in an article by MyGoPen dated June 23, 2023. The Taiwanese fact check website reported that the viral image is AI-generated and the mark on the corner of the image reads ‘Yezi Meituguan.’

We also found the same image on a Chinese website called Toutiao on an account named ‘Leaf Beauty Gallery’ which clearly states that it shares AI paintings.

We also found a comment in which the author as acknowledged that, 'Ai painting has been written at the beginning of the article. In fact, the original intention of the painting is to be happy when you look at it.'

Hence it is evident that the viral image of Monkey flowers is AI-generated.