AI Other categories

AI behind image of train on a cliffside | Fact check – USA TODAY

The claim: Image shows Scottish railroad’s ‘Northern Line’ along cliff edge

An April 13 Facebook (direct link, archive link) shows a train running tightly along the edge of a steep cliff.

“Scotrail (sic) have today announced the re-opening of the Northern Line, traditionally only used during the summer months,” reads the post. “The route, from Kirkcaldy to Dundee through the beautiful mountain region of Fifeshire, shaves hours off the coastal route.”

The post was shared more than 49,000 times in less than three weeks. Similar Facebook posts were shared thousands of additional times.

More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page

Our rating: Altered

The image was generated by artificial intelligence, according to an expert and an AI-detection tool. There is no evidence of a “Northern Line” on the ScotRail’s website.

No ScotRail ‘Northern Line,’ image is AI-generated

The image is from a short video originally posted on Instagram by an account that labels itself as “natural animation” and frequently posts digitally created videos and images, including others that depict trains and other vehicles near the edges of cliffs.

Hive Moderation’s AI detection tool determined the image is 98.4% likely to be AI-generated, and that it’s 95% likely to have been created with the program Stable Diffusion.

James O’Brien, a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, found other clues that the image was AI-generated.

Some of the train cars are impossibly joined together, the arrangements of the doors and windows don’t make sense and the train cars at the back are curved, O’Brien said. The resolution is inconsistent too, which is common with AI-generated images when the program “deals with details it can’t create by obscuring them.”

“I’d say this image is AI-generated and the creators did not make any effort to conceal that,” he said.

Fact check: Image of Trump, Epstein and Diddy is combination of AI and editing

ScotRail is a publicly-owned railway company that operates throughout Scotland. There is no mention of a “Northern Line” on its website, much less any announcement that the purported rail line is reopening.

ScotRail does operate what it calls the “Far North Line,” which runs from Inverness, a city on Scotland’s northeast coast, to Thurso and Wick, towns on the country’s far northern coast. That’s not the route described in the Facebook post, which claims to go between Kirkcaldy and Dundee, two cities on Scotland’s east coast.

ScotRail did not respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Check Your Fact also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.

USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.

This post was originally published on 3rd party site mentioned in the title of the post.

Related posts