AI-altered images of Sara Duterte visiting former rebel group mislead online

TDT | agencies

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AI-manipulated images claiming to show Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte visiting members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), the military wing linked to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), have circulated online ahead of the region's first parliamentary election.

The images, shared on Facebook, X, Instagram and Reddit, purportedly show Duterte walking alongside armed men wearing BIAF insignia.

Duterte's spokesman Paolo Panelo told AFP on September 16 that the claim was false, saying the vice president had never visited an MILF camp and was in Luzon throughout the previous week.

A reverse image search found the original footage, published in June, showing Duterte visiting Nungunan town in Lanao del Norte for its 60th founding anniversary. The original videos and official photographs show her without the armed men seen in the manipulated images.

Other clues also point to fabrication. Several supposed BIAF fighters appear unusually similar, while the patches on their uniforms do not match those seen on genuine BIAF uniforms.

An analysis using OpenAI's verification tool found digital signatures in both images indicating they were likely manipulated using the company's AI tools. The false images circulated days before the September 14 parliamentary vote in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.