AI Generated Image Viral As Photograph of Total Solar Eclipse 2024

An image depicting a giant sun covered by the moon's shadow and bordered by swirling sunrays in the sky is viral on social media claiming to be a photograph captured during the April 8 solar eclipse this year.

BOOM found the image to be generated using artificial intelligence and not a genuine depiction of the rare celestial event, the total solar eclipse.

The April 8 total solar eclipse could only be witnessed from different parts of North America that fell within the path of totality. People in Mexico's Mazatlan were the first to witness totality. Places outside the path of totality witnessed a partial solar eclipse. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) also streamed the phenomenon live on their website giving people outside the path of totality a chance to view the eclipse.

Many users shared the photographs of the eclipse they captured on different social media platforms.

An image of a giant sun covered by a dark shadow with its rays swirling outside in the sky is viral on social media . A user shared the image on Threads with the caption, "Probably the best photo of total solar eclipse 2024."

Click here to see. To see an archived version, click here.

The same image is also shared on a Facebook group with the caption, "One of the best shot of Total Solar Eclipse from yesterday"

Click here to see the post, click here to see the archived version.

Fact Check

BOOM noticed with respect to the trees visible surroundings the image, the sun appeared giant and unnatural in the sky.

In order to verify its authenticity we tested the image through two AI image detection tools - Hive Moderation and AI or Not, both of which estimated that the image was made using AI.

The result from Hive Moderation can be seen below.

The result from AI or Not is given below.