A fake image supposedly showing a recent incident where a man was attacked by a tiger at a UK wildlife park has been shared hundreds of times on social media.
The man died after entering a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park on Saturday, 10 October. He has been named by police and in the media as William Chapman.
In the aftermath of the attack, South Yorkshire Police said it was aware of videos of the incident circulating online, and encouraged people not to share the footage.
But the fake image we’ve seen being shared on social media does not come from genuine footage, and is AI-generated.
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It appears to show a man dressed all in black sitting on the grass next to a tiger. But the picture contains a SynthID—an invisible watermark that indicates it was created or edited using Google’s AI tools.
And there are other clues that the image isn’t real. The face of the individual pictured does not match photos of Mr Chapman that have been released by the media. And the all-black outfit the man in the image is wearing does not match the clothes Mr Chapman is reported to have worn during the incident, which includes lighter-coloured trousers.
The account which appears to have originally posted the image online told Full Fact that it was AI-generated. They said that at the time it was posted the man hadn’t been named, so they “chose a generated representation of the incident rather than anything that could identify him”. They have now clarified in the caption of their post that it was made using AI.
The man’s death was confirmed by South Yorkshire Police in an official statement on 10 October.
It said: “We received reports of a man entering a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
“The tiger subsequently attacked the man, resulting in serious injury.
“Emergency services attended and sadly, despite the best efforts of medical personnel, the man was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Yorkshire Wildlife Park confirmed in a statement that the tiger involved would not be euthanised, and said: “Our thoughts and heartfelt sympathies remain with the family and loved ones of the man who sadly lost his life.”
Before sharing images like this that you see on social media, first consider whether they come from a trustworthy and verifiable source, or if they could have been altered or created with AI. Our guide to spotting AI images and misinformation toolkit can help you do this.
