Internet Fooled by Viral AI Image of Man Fighting an Alligator
A set of AI images showing a large man fighting alligators over a pizza has swept across the internet this past weekend with many believing them to be real.
The amusing image of a man wearing khaki shorts and boots karate kicking an alligator in the face while in a swamp was accompanied by a few other images. They include the same man sharing a pizza with the alligator and subsequently fighting the gator over the pizza.
Know Your Meme reports the source of the images is “Uncle Mike’s Photography Page.” Despite its name, the Facebook page posts absurd AI images but at least its handle is “Extreme AI Art.”
Is this AI or Not?
Apart from the preposterous nature of the images, they are excellent fakes that convinced many.
One person, who says they have experience with AI, posted on Reddit: “Is this AI or not? This is the first thing I’ve ever seen where I can’t tell if it’s AI or not and it’s really bugging me, help!”
In response, Redditors pointed out that the AI giveaways are the lack of ripples in the water, the man’s appearance changing slightly from image to image, and some floaty elements.
But over on X (formerly Twitter), the images went extremely viral with an account called “Fights n’ Stuff” posting the images with the caption: “A story.” The sequence the Twitter page posted makes it look as if the man was sharing his pizza with an alligator and the pair ended up fighting over it.
A story pic.twitter.com/gkNoWpkx3k
— Fights n' Stuff (@FightsStuff) September 30, 2023
“I’m very intrigued to know how he was able to get that close to an alligator let alone with pizza,” writes K TheBeauty on Twitter.
Little is known about the images, but some have wondered whether they were created using DALL-E 3 which has impressed since its release.
If it is DALL-E 3, then it may mark the first time a picture from OpenAI’s AI image generator has had viral success in this way; a feat normally accomplished by Midjourney.
PetaPixel reached out to Uncle Mike’s Photography Page but did not hear back as of publication.
Uncle Mike’s Photography Page is filled with similar images, although many are very, very weird. The page recently posted an image of a similar-looking man fighting a bear in a swamp.
Noticeably, Uncle Mike has started watermarking his images after apparently not receiving much credit for his work; he urged his followers to tag him in every “article, news story, and video.”
