By 6 min readApril 2, 2026 – 2:11PMAFP
Publication Date: 2026-04-02 03:11:00
“Is Netanyahu real or AI?” An internet headline rang out, pointing to a video that purportedly showed the Israeli prime minister showing six fingers.
But the clip was real.
Speculation circulated online that Netanyahu may have been killed or wounded in an Iranian attack and that Israel was covering it up with a double generated by artificial intelligence.
“Last time I checked, humans don’t typically have six fingers…AI does,” read a post on X that garnered nearly five million views. “Is Netanyahu no more?”
Digital forensics researchers quickly explained the “extra” finger: a lighting effect that made part of his palm appear like an extra finger.
But this message was largely lost in the online uproar. Nor did it matter that advanced visual AI generators — now capable of producing eerily real-looking deepfakes within seconds — have largely eliminated the once-telltale flaw of the extra fingers.
So how do you prove that what’s real is real when the line between reality and fake is blurred…
