Vladimir Putin AI image incident — Sep 2026
An AI-generated selfie showing world leaders at the 2026 BRICS Summit went viral despite featuring deceased individuals and officials not in attendance
- Incident date
- Sep 2026
- Target
- Vladimir Putin, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Cyril Ramaphosa, Ebrahim Raisi
In mid-September 2026, a viral image purporting to show a selfie of world leaders at the BRICS Summit in New Delhi spread rapidly across social media platforms. The image, which was even shared by a news organization, falsely claimed to capture heads of state during the event held at Bharat Mandapam.
What happened
The image featured a group selfie of several prominent figures, including Vladimir Putin, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Cyril Ramaphosa, and Ebrahim Raisi. However, the photograph was entirely AI-generated and contained several factual impossibilities that exposed the deception.
Investigations revealed that several of the depicted individuals were not in attendance at the 2026 summit. Brazil was represented by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, while the UAE sent Crown Prince Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Furthermore, the inclusion of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi served as a glaring error, as he had passed away in a helicopter crash in May 2024.
To confirm the nature of the image, the content was processed through multiple AI-detection tools. Hive Moderation identified a 99.9 percent likelihood of artificial generation, while Sightengine assigned a 99 percent score. Additionally, OpenAI's Verify tool confirmed that the image was created using their technology. The incident serves as a stark reminder of the ease with which synthetic media can be used to propagate misinformation regarding major geopolitical events, contrasting sharply with the authentic visuals provided by official government accounts.