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Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

A picture which claims to show convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in prison and has gathered tens of millions of views, is actually an edited still that was likely manipulated using AI, experts have told BBC Verify.

Video from Maxwell’s closed-door deposition in front of a US Congressional committee, during which she refused to answer questions about her associate Jeffrey Epstein, was released last week.

An edited still from this footage began to circulate widely across social media platforms in the days after its release.

This led to comparisons between Maxwell’s appearance in the edited still and photographs taken years before she went to prison. Some social media users highlighted what they thought were differences in the dimensions of Maxwell’s face.

These purported differences have led to spurious viral claims that a body double has taken Maxwell’s place in prison, building on a host of long-running conspiracy theories about the Epstein case.

But digital forensics expert Hany Farid and generative AI expert Henry Adjer told BBC Verify the distortions to Maxwell’s face in the edited picture are “likely” to be the result of using an AI-enhancement tool.

That’s because when AI is asked to enhance an image, it can only make predictions based on the images it has been trained on, says Ajder.

“It appears that while some features and proportions have been retained, others, such as nose shape and eye region, have likely been inaccurately ‘approximated’,” Ajder added.

We’ve reported before on how AI-enhancement has distorted footage of US President Donald Trump’s face.