Ben Shapiro faces backlash after posting 'AI image of burnt Israeli baby'

Right-wing American columnist Ben Shapiro has faced backlash over an image he shared purporting to show a "burnt Jewish baby" after Saturday's attack by Hamas fighters on Israel.

Shapiro’s post on social media platform X initially triggered a note warning that the image was generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

The note has since been removed.

The image was said to be AI-generated via the image authenticity detection site aiornot.com, as claimed by many social media users, but some experts have said there is no reliable way to detect AI manipulation of images.

Another X user also accused Shapiro of using a fake image to defend Israel's relentless bombardment and total siege of Gaza, which has so far killed over over 2000 Palestinians, including over 700children.

Shapiro denied the accusations and saidthat AI content detectors were not always accurate.

The New Arab cannot verify the authenticity of the image or whether it was manipulated by AI.

Israel refused to confirm that Hamas beheaded babies following a claim on Israeli news Tuesday that quickly made its way through International media ⬇️https://t.co/t4Jft5ZjGp

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) October 15, 2023

Separately, reports of beheadings of babies at Kfar Azza have been rife since Israeli military personnel toured foreign media around the site in the aftermath of the fighting.

Journalists said they had been told by Israeli soldiers that some "40 babies" had been murdered during the fighting and that men, women, and children had been "beheaded".

The Israeli army later told media that it had not yet verified the claims made by their own soldiers.

Hamas has denied claims it beheaded children, but its attack has led to the death of hundreds of civilians including children.

Update: This article has been updated to reflect the ongoing debate about whether or not the image is AI generated, and an update of the death toll in Gaza.