Narendra Modi and Abiy Ahmed AI image incident — Oct 2026

A fabricated front page of The Times of India, featuring an AI-generated image of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed attempting to kiss Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, circulated widely on social media following the September 2026 BRICS summit. The image, which purported to show a diplomatically sensitive interaction, was debunked by the newspaper and fact-checkers as a complete fabrication.

What happened

Following the 18th BRICS Summit held in New Delhi, social media users shared a screenshot of a purported Times of India front page. The image depicted Abiy Ahmed attempting to kiss Narendra Modi, who appeared to fend off the gesture. The fake front page included headlines such as "Modi-Abiy interaction raises eyebrows at BRICS" and claimed the event sparked debate regarding the Ethiopian leader's greeting style.

Investigations by AFP Fact Check confirmed the image and the accompanying article were entirely fabricated. The Times of India explicitly denied publishing the content, noting that the newspaper never carried such a story or picture. A comparison between the fake and a genuine edition of the newspaper revealed significant discrepancies: the fabricated version lacked standard folio information, used an incorrect layout, and contained gibberish text in the body of the article, a common indicator of AI-generated content.

Technical analysis provided further evidence of the deception. Google’s SynthID detector confirmed with high confidence that the image was generated using Google AI tools, and other detection software flagged patterns consistent with synthetic media. In reality, official photographs from the Indian prime minister's office show the two leaders engaging in a standard, cordial handshake during their bilateral talks. The incident highlights the use of sophisticated AI to create convincing but entirely false journalistic artifacts to manipulate public perception of diplomatic events.