This photo is not a genuine macro shot of a bee’s face
The image is AI-generated
CLAIM: A photo purporting to show a macro photography composition of a bee’s face has almost half a million views on Twitter since it was posted on April 17.
RATING: The image is not a real photo and is AI-generated.
BACKGROUND
A Twitter account with the username @AmazingNature00 shared an image purporting to show a macro shot of a bee on April 17.
The user, who claims to “analyse and fact check to bring you the best in real genuine nature research,” tweeted: “Really Cool Macro Shot of a Bee!”
Dozens of social media users shared the image, with one user attributing the photo to National Geographic.
METHOD
According to academics, Bees eyes typically resemble honeycombs, which immediately raises a red flag as no honeycomb shapes are visible in the eyes of the bee in the photo.
“The facets of the lens are arranged in hexagons, as is true for so many insect eyes, but this is probably not a primitive condition. Hexagonal arrangement is what is produced whenever any circular objects are closely pressed together, just as the cells of the honeycomb are hexagonal, and this undoubtedly explains the shape and arrangement of the facet,” Everett Franklin Phillips writes in his paper Structure and Development of the Compound Eye of the Honey Bee.
Conducting a reverse image search, we were brought to the Adobe stock image library where the image was shared by “mac”, a know creator of AI-generated images.
The image also appears on the stock image site Freepik listed under this illustration category by user @lazybonejr9, another known creator of AI-generated content.
From this we can conclude that the image is not a real image of a bee and is AI-generated.
RATING
The image does not show a macro photography shot of a bee. It is an AI-generated image.
SOURCES
bee (2023). bee on blue background Illustration Stock. [online] Adobe Stock. Available at: https://stock.adobe.com/fr/images/bee-on-blue-background/565796671?prev_url=detail [Accessed 20 Apr. 2023].
alien in space (2023). Mac Fotos, Bilder, Stockmedien. [online] Adobe Stock. Available at: https://stock.adobe.com/ch_de/contributor/211263096/mac? [Accessed 20 Apr. 2023].
Freepik. (2023). An amazing delicious cheese burger Premium Photo. [online] Available at: https://www.freepik.com/author/lazybonejr9 [Accessed 20 Apr. 2023].
Freepik. (2023). Art illustration painting photography cute and adorable insect Premium Photo. [online] Available at: https://www.freepik.com/premium-photo/art-illustration-painting-photography-cute-adorable-insect_38033831.htm [Accessed 20 Apr. 2023].
Twitter. (2023). Available at: https://twitter.com/AmazingNature00/status/1647971225409290242 [Accessed 20 Apr. 2023].
Twitter. (2023). Available at: https://twitter.com/search?q=macro%20shot%20of%20bee&src=typed_query [Accessed 20 Apr. 2023].
Twitter. (2023). Available at: https://twitter.com/ButterflyMagick/status/1648447002391515141 [Accessed 20 Apr. 2023].
Jstor.org. (2023). Structure and Development of the Compound Eye of the Honey Bee on JSTOR. [online] Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4063014 [Accessed 20 Apr. 2023].