Messi, Ronaldo and many football stars become victims of 'AI images'

From Messi, Ronaldo to Szoboszlai recently, a series of football stars have been misunderstood because of the problem of photo manipulation and AI-generated images causing distortion.

After Messi and Ronaldo, Szoboszlai also received a lot of ridicule because of AI photos - Photo: AI

More than a week ago, the photo "Messi in a secret meeting with the FIFA President and Qatar billionaire before the 2022 World Cup" caused a storm in the football world. But everything was soon exposed, that photo was just a product of AI.

And most recently, it was Szoboszlai's turn to suffer because of the AI ​​image problem. Immediately after the loss to Ireland in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, the Hungarian team captain received countless taunts.

The reason came from two photos of Szoboszlai "faking tears" and "teasing" his opponent after Hungary scored to increase the score to 2-1 in the first half of the match.

One of the typical posts mocking Szoboszlai - Photo: INSTAGRAM

But not long after, experts "cleared" the Liverpool midfielder, when they pointed out that one of the two photos - the photo of Szoboszlai pretending to cry - was an AI product.

The other photo – Szoboszlai putting his hand to his mouth in mockery – was not actually directed at the Irish team. When making this gesture, Szoboszlai was facing his teammates on the sidelines. After the match, the Hungarian captain explained that the gesture was a joke between him and his teammates.

Before being cleared, these two photos - especially the "fake crying" photo - spread at a dizzying speed on social networks, receiving millions of interactions. Most of the football world mocked Szoboszlai for "crowning early".

No one knows the true origin of the photo. Similar to many other AI photo products, the photo was initially posted by an anonymous account on social networks, before being reposted by a series of accounts with many interactions.

This is not the first time that football stars have been misrepresented by AI images. After Portuguese football star Diogo Jota passed away, social media also appeared a series of photos of Ronaldo visiting his teammate’s grave. And it also spread at a dizzying speed.

Photo series of Ronaldo visiting Jota's grave - Photo: AI

At that time, this series of photos clearly showed traces of AI products, with brightness, sharpness, and background all very "fake".

A few months later, the AI ​​photos became more difficult to recognize, with a style of blurring the photo to simulate a photo cut out from a camera, creating a believable effect.

Typical examples include the photo of "Messi in a private meeting with the FIFA President" or the moment Szoboszlai recently mocked his opponent. The photos look like they were cut from a camera, making it difficult to accurately assess.

In addition to Messi, Ronaldo and Szoboszlai, the football world over the past year has witnessed many other names being distorted by AI photos and videos .

Typically, in September, many stars of the Indonesian team such as Ridho, Hubner, Walsh were photoshopped intimate photos with female fans, or before that, there was a clip of "Coach Southgate swearing". All were products of AI.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/messi-ronaldo-va-nhieu-ngoi-sao-bong-da-tro-thanh-nan-nhan-cua-anh-ai-20251121102557125.htm