Crowds of Iranian-Americans took to the streets of Westwood on Saturday to celebrate the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and the reported formation of a provisional government by opposition groups, marking a moment many said they never expected to witness in their lifetimes.
Celebrations spilled into the streets near Persian Square with people waving Iranian flags, honking car horns and chanting in joy. Some danced in the streets, expressing hope for a freer Iran.
No, image is by Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times
Not everything is AI
Look at the image I’ve attached. The stars are clearly messed up. It’s the same thing I usually see in gen AI stuff: when there’s a repeating pattern, it tends to fall out of sequence near a visual border. In this case, the stars get bunched up and new ones added close to flag just to the left.
Perhaps AI was only used to enhance the image? Or it’s a homemade flag?
Edit: It’s true that not everything is AI. There’s a nonzero chance that the flag is warped, which is causing the pattern break, or something else created artifacts. It’s just really hard to trust anything right now, no matter the source.
I’m sorry, but you’ve lost the plot. This does not look at ALL like AI upsizing. There is no AI noise, faces are intelligible. Hands have the right number of fingers, and are attached to people. There is no AI noise. The stars are the correct number and in the correct arrangement (see overlay below). People have a range of expressions. The framing is natural.
Additionally, it is published and credited in a major news source with long-established editorial oversight.
I admit I was too hasty in calling it out as AI. For my own sanity, I tried drawing lines connecting the stars and determined there is likely a deep ripple in the fabric which causes the stars to be misaligned. It’s not, however, straight like the image of the superimposed flag you attached, though.
And yes, I might ‘lose the plot’ sometimes, but I eventually try to get back on track :)
Hey it’s a tough world out there. It’s getting harder and harder to identify fake images, which is why I wanted to explain some of the telltale signs that it is real.
I also have a number of friends who are very outspoken in the Iranian-American community. There are a lot of bad actors out there who are trying to discredit their entire movement because Trump happens to be president. Who else are they supposed to appeal to for an international intervention? They just want to rescue their families.