A clip of a Pakistani army chief touching the knee of a Saudi prince is generated by AI

After Pakistan army chief General Syed Asim Munir held talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his visit to the Gulf kingdom in November 2024, a video that appears to show the military commander touching his commander's knee has been shared on social media. The video, however, was posted by a TikTok account that labeled it as AI-generated content. Clips of the meeting shared by Saudi state media also do not show any such interaction taking place.

This video was shared on November 7, 2024, on the Urdu language site X accusing army chief General Syed Asim Munir of disrespecting Pakistani women but “falling at the feet of others when they are abroad”.

The accompanying clip, which has been viewed more than 370,000 times, appears to show a military officer reaching out to touch the knee of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Touching someone's knee is considered a sign of respect in Pakistan; government officials will sometimes touch the knee of an opponent or ally to ask for their support (link saved).

The Urdu word “bachalo (save me)” is engraved on the top left of the clip, while “Bilal Ai” is written on the top right.

The video was shared by an account that had previously posted content in support of Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan, who clashed with the country's powerful military shortly before his ouster in April 2022 (link archived).

Soldiers looms large in the political landscape of Pakistansince generals have ruled the country for almost half of its history since it was separated from India in 1947.

The same video has been shared and similar claims elsewhere on X here, here and here.

It has spread after a Saudi prince received a Pakistani army chief at the Royal Palace during an official visit November 6.

According to the Pakistan military intelligence (ISPR)the two discussed regional peace, defense and security cooperation and strategies to improve the relationship (archived link).

But the video released by the state media of this meeting does not show the collaboration that is said to be distributed on social media.

'AI content'

A Google search for the keyword “Bilal Ai” — the text superimposed on the falsely shared video — led to a similar clip shared on a TikTok account with the same name (archived link).

Account history says “AI content” and “sarcastic”.

The video was shared on the account on November 7, with a disclaimer: “Creator labeled AI generated.”

According to TikTok, “creators use this label themselves to indicate that their content is entirely or largely edited by AI” (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison between the video used in the fake post (left) and the same video called “AI made” on TikTok (right):

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from an AI-generated video led to a corresponding image sent by the Saudi foreign ministry to X (archived link).

The same photo was also used in a Geo News article and posted on ISPR (archived link).

The Geo News article includes an embedded video that shows footage from the meeting between the army chief and the Saudi crown prince taken from a different angle, but nowhere in the short clip does Munir reach out to touch the knee of Saudi Arabia's de. a true leader.

AFP has previously debunked fake posts circulating in Pakistan that used AI-generated content here and here.