The viral, AI-generated “All Eyes on Rafah” image that was shared more than 50 million times may have been stolen from an AI art hobbyist.

The image spread widely on social media last week after an Israeli air strike resulted in a fire at a camp in Rafah, where displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

However, according to Malaysian Zila Abka, she first conceived the image thanks to AI back in February.

Abka dabbles in AI-generated art and works as science teacher.

She is also a pro-Palestine activist and decided to use her AI skills to create art for the cause in February.

She used the phrase to create an AI-generated image on Microsoft’s Image Creator, NPR reported.

She then added watermarks to indicate it was AI and she created it.

The World Health Organisation first used the phrase “All eyes on Rafah” in February, as a way to bring attention to the southern Gazan city, where millions of displaced Palestinians were hiding in makeshift shelters.

Back then, director of WHO’s Office of the Occupied Palestinian Territories Dr Rik Peeperkorn said an Israeli invasion in Rafah would result in “unfathomable catastrophe, further expanding the humanitarian disaster beyond all imagination”.

On February 14, Abka shared the image to a Facebook group dedicated to AI-generated art.

“I wanted to spread and highlight the issue and hoped that everybody would do whatever they could to show solidarity with Gazans right now,” Abka told NPR.

Zila Abka posted this AI-generated image to social media in February. Photo: Zila Abka

Popularity was never the intention, artists says

Abka didn’t give her image another thought until last week, when the AI-generated image started going viral on social media, following Israel’s airstrike.

From the placement of the tents to where the words were in the image, it looked identical to the image she produced back in February.

The only difference were the watermarks she had added were gone.

She admits at first she was offended, but her goal was always to raise support and awareness for Palestinians in Gaza.

“If the aim is to spread awareness … then I think I should thank that person,” she told NPR.

She also said she doesn’t believe anyone really owns any AI-generated image.

Shahv4012 is the Instagram account that shared the now-viral image. It’s run by Amirul Shah, who is also Malaysian, but he and Abka do not know each other.

Although the watermark and disclaimer is missing from the post shared by Shah, a tag to his photography Instagram account is present.

He told NPR he had not seen Abka’s initial artwork. She believes he may have cropped her image and then edited it, but he claims he was playing around with the same Microsoft tool she used.

Shah never expected his All Eyes on Rafah image to go viral once he uploaded to Instagram as a template and virality was never his intention.

“My intention was not for popularity,” Shah told NPR.

“I wanted to uphold justice for all Palestinians who are there.”

TND tried to out Microsoft’s Image Creator, using variations of “All Eyes on Rafah” and phrases like “tents”, however, instead of producing a picture similar to Abka’s, a message said “images couldn’t be generated”.

“Something may have triggered Microsoft’s Responsible AI guidelines. Please change your phrasing and try again,” it said.

Why the All Eyes on Rafah image went viral

After the AI image went viral, some criticised those who shared the AI depiction of Rafah, instead of real images and footage, saying it was sanitising the situation.

When speaking to NPR, Shah specifically noted that Instagram will routinely remove content it deems as graphic.

In an article for The Conversation, Irfan Mehmood and Kamran Mahroof from the University of Bradford explain there is a reason why the image went viral.

“Generative AI has the ability to bypass censorship, not only in terms of avoiding flagged keywords but also in visual content, which aids the widespread dissemination of such content,” they wrote.

“Real photos of victims in Gaza and Rafah are often considered too horrific and graphic to share on social media platforms.

“This means that more sanitised, AI-generated images proliferate wider and faster.”