Hi Shankar, I am a huge fan of your writing on Ukraine, so please take this as a friendly observation - I’m pretty sure that WWI photo you have used is AI generated, and it’s out of keeping for such a fake not to be labeled as such. I know, it’s not directly relevant to you article, but to me such fakes undermine the veracity of a piece. You might not even have known when you chose it - but there’s no attribution to Unsplash or whatever.

I read a great article recently in detecting AI fakes, and this displays some of the marks. For example, the second figure from the front has no left hand, just an empty left sleeve raised high. And why is he wearing multiple cloth hats instead of a helmet? Further to his left, in what seems a separate trench—there’s no trench there, just three fellows seemingly buried in dirt to their necks. And then, on the right side, what about the fellow with Nosferatu-type fingers? Poorly rendered hands are another give away. And what kind of a weapon is he holding? It is scythe? Just past him, a helmet float in the air without a head under it….

I believe we have to be alert and wary of AI fakes, and if we are going to use them, to clearly label them as such.

Now, please carry on with your excellent analysis!

Tim