Images that show Diddy being arrested are AI creations | Fact check

The claim: Images show Sean 'Diddy' Combs was arrested

A March 27 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) includes two images that appear to show music producer and rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs. The first shows him with his hands behind his back surrounded by police officers, while the second appears to show a mugshot of him.

The post is comprised of two Instagram screenshots, both of which have captions that say, "dang they got em #diddy" (sic)

The post was shared more than 9,000 times in two days.

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Our rating: Altered

The photos were created by AI. Combs has not been arrested. The creator of the images confirmed they are not real.

Creator points out key signs that image is AI

Combs is currently facing a series of civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault. On March 25, federal agents raided residences associated with him in Los Angeles and Miami as part of what officials say is an investigation into sex trafficking. In a statement, Combs said, "I did not do any of the awful things being alleged."

An associate of Combs has been arrested, but there are no credible reports that the rapper himself was taken into custody.

Text included in the Instagram posts indicates the images of Combs being arrested were first shared by the Instagram user Riiah Mitchell, who describes himself as an artist and 3D animator. The images can be found on his Instagram account.

Mitchell told USA TODAY that he created the photos using an AI technique he calls a "digital echo," which he explained was a dataset of information and images of a person that can be used to generate additional images.

Mitchell said he created the images of Diddy to showcase the generated work on his page. He said he never imagined they would go viral because "this is the worst AI picture I've ever made."

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The eyes on Combs and at least one of the police officers in the background of the first image appear to be blurred. Mitchell said looking at the eyes is key to spotting signs of a generated image.

"The eyes are very difficult for AI to capture from different distances if you do not have the correct dataset," said Mitchell. "I used a dataset based off of what I found on the internet."

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

Our fact-check sources:

• Riiah Mitchell, March 29, Phone interview with USA TODAY

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