Key facts
- A viral image falsely depicted French President Emmanuel Macron kneeling before Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
- Thailand's government has officially stated the image is AI-generated.
- The fabricated image circulated on social media following the King's state visit to France.
- Official photographs show Macron standing while presenting the award.
A viral image circulating on social media falsely depicted French President Emmanuel Macron kneeling before Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn while presenting France's highest state honours. The image gained significant traction following the Thai monarch's state visit to Paris, which marked 170 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations. Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has officially debunked the image, stating there is no evidence of such an event and that official photographs show Macron standing. The fabricated image was found to contain a SynthID watermark, indicating it was generated using OpenAI tools. This incident follows previous instances of AI-generated imagery related to Thailand's royal family going viral online.