A viral picture of a woman in a yellow “Banarasi bikini” has been making waves on social media with claims that she broke stereotypes by donning the outfit on her wedding day. However, an investigation by News18.com found the claims to be misleading. The image, which went viral as that of a bride from Lucknow, is generated through AI and not from an actual incident.
The viral picture features a woman in a yellow bikini with a veil, holding a varmala, as a bridegroom dressed in sherwani is seen before her. She is seen wearing jewelry and henna on her hands and legs. Accompanying texts claimed that the “Lucknow bride breaks stereotype and the internet has mixed reactions, sparking debates on the net.
A reverse image search was prompted by the post’s rapid spread to a Reddit post, where the image was originally shared with the caption, “Marriage season.” It had appeared in the “DesiAdultfusion” community, which carries an “NSFW” tag, indicating content suitable only for adults.
Further investigation revealed that the Reddit site is meant to display AI-generated art. The description reads, “DesiAdultfusion is a subreddit for AI-generated art related to desi culture. From traditional to modern, our community welcomes all forms of desi-inspired art created using artificial intelligence.”
One Reddit user even posted a comment on the viral screenshot, saying people have been “misusing their AI-generated images.” But then, further research on that image through the deep fake detection tool TrueMedia.org confirmed that it was actually AI-generated, with overwhelming evidence of manipulation. This could have been made through Stable Diffusion, MidJourney, or DALL-E 2, among other powerful tools.
