Narendra Modi AI image incident — Sep 2026
A viral image claiming to show world leaders taking a selfie at the 2026 BRICS summit in Delhi was revealed to be a high-probability AI-generated fabrication
- Incident date
- Sep 2026
- Target
- Narendra Modi, Vladimir Putin, Cyril Ramaphosa, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Xi Jinping, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
In mid-September 2026, social media platforms including X and Facebook were flooded with a viral image allegedly depicting world leaders posing for a selfie during the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi. The image was widely shared by users as a symbol of global leadership, but it was quickly debunked as a sophisticated piece of synthetic media.
What happened
The image featured a group of prominent world figures, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, standing in front of a banner labeled 'BRICS Summit 2026.'
Fact-checkers identified several inconsistencies in the image, most notably the inclusion of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Turkey is not a member of BRICS, nor was the leader reported to be an attendee at the summit held at Bharat Mandapam on September 12 and 13, 2026.
To confirm the nature of the content, the image was processed through technical verification tools. Hive Moderation assigned the photo an AI-generated probability score of over 99 percent. Furthermore, an analysis using OpenAI’s image verification tool confirmed that the content was created using OpenAI tools. The viral post, which initially drew praise for capturing a historic moment, was officially confirmed as a false representation created entirely by artificial intelligence.