IMAGES APPEARING TO show members of An Garda Síochána being turned away from restaurants and cafés during the recent fuel price protests, alongside detailed accounts of this happening, have appeared on social media recently.
A Facebook account this week posted an image appearing to show gardaí walking out of a restaurant as customers stand and applaud or record with their phones.
“Garda being refused service in Galway and asked to leave the premises as 4 members of the Garda walked in to a restaurant three males and a woman, the place went quiet with other customers and staff looking at them,” the post read.
The image is AI-generated. At a glance, it may appear authentic, but there are multiple tells that it is not.
The restaurant it is supposed to show, “The Quays Bistro” in Galway, does not exist. There is a pub called The Quays in Galway city though.
Also, the business across the street is simply called “Galway”. It also does not exist.
Then there are details of the rending of the people in the image.
As is often the case with AI-generated images of people, there are issues with the depiction of hands. See below how the man in the apron’s left hand is missing fingers.
“One of these images uses Garda in outdated uniforms that are no longer worn,” a Garda spokesperson told The Journal.
But the most obvious sign that the image is not a photograph is the Google Gemini logo in the bottom right corner. Gemini is Google’s AI model.
The Facebook user who posted the image...
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