Viral images of a crying girl clutching a puppy during Hurricane Helene are AI-generated

Hurricane Helene is the deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. 

While relief and rescue efforts continue, two images have gone viral online, purportedly showing a young girl clutching a puppy while being rescued from the storm. Some of the posts praise the photography, saying the photos should win a Pulitzer Prize.

In one of the viral images, a crying girl is sitting inside a green boat clutching a brown puppy. In another, the crying girl is looking directly at the camera holding onto a puppy with black, brown and white fur.

Several VERIFY readers asked us if these dramatic images are real.

THE QUESTION

Are the viral images of a girl and puppy being rescued during Hurricane Helene real?

THE SOURCES

• VERIFY analysis of the images
• RevEye, a reverse image search tool 
• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)

THE ANSWER 

No, the viral images of a girl and puppy being rescued aren’t real. They are AI-generated. 

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WHAT WE FOUND

These two images appearing to show a little girl being rescued with a puppy aren’t real; they were made with generative artificial intelligence software. 

Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence technology that can produce new content, such as images, videos, audio and text, based on a prompt. 

When VERIFY fact-checks AI-generated images, we follow a specific process. Here’s what we did to determine these images were not real: 

First, we conducted a reverse image search. We found no reputable news outlets, humanitarian agencies or rescue officials had published the images. During natural disasters and floods, such images would typically be accompanied by more context and widely shared online.

Next, we examined the context in which the images were posted. There was no information about where or when the images were taken, or the girl’s name. 

VERIFY analyzed the images and found subtle visual cues indicating they were AI-generated.

AI creation tools can struggle with details. Often, a person seen in an AI-generated image or video has misshapen or distorted features. Numbers, letters, textures and background details are often also distorted or over-stylized in AI content. AI experts call these details “artifacts” – clear indicators the content is AI-generated.

In the image of the girl holding the brown dog, there’s a gap between the puppy’s head and the girl’s hair where the background is missing. The girl’s facial expression is stylized, almost cartoonish, and her skin tone differs between her face and arms. Her ear is misshapen, as is the boat behind her.

In the other image of the girl with the dog with brown and black fur, the left side of her face is distorted, her left ear is missing, her right hand is too long and her left hand lacks fingernails on the middle and pinky fingers. 

A third image, apparently showing the same girl with a different brown dog, has also been shared online as proof the images are AI. In each image VERIFY analyzed, the girl appears similar but the dogs, life jackets and boats are all different. 

The images appear to have been circulated to provoke an emotional response, which the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) says is a tactic of disinformation campaigns. 

The earliest instance of the image of the girl with the dog with black and brown fur found online was an Oct. 1 X post by a user who often shares conservative content. It was then shared across multiple right-wing platforms, often in connection with criticism of the U.S. government’s hurricane response and funding. VERIFY could not confirm whether the X user created the image.

We could not trace the origin of the image featuring the girl with the brown dog, but found it was also shared primarily to criticize the government. 

Have you seen images you’d like the VERIFY team to analyze? Email us at questions@verifythis.com.