Viral photos of Deepika Padukone smoking, drinking with Alia Bhatt & Shraddha Kapoor are fake [Fact check]

With the advent of technology and the social media boom, it has become extremely difficult to differentiate between fake and real images. Deepfake images, videos and the misuse of AI are getting out of hand with each passing day. Almost every day, we see some other celebrity, cricketer, or politician falling prey to AI-generated content.

Recently, Deepika Padukone turned 40 and celebrated her birthday in style, not with close friends, but with fans. The meet-and-greet event flooded social media, with several clips showing Deepika interacting warmly with her admirers.

However, amid these videos, several photos showing Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt and Shraddha Kapoor smoking and partying went viral. In some images, Deepika was seen holding a cigarette, while another showed her smoking. Another set of visuals showed Shraddha holding a glass of alcohol, with Alia also visible alongside them. The images triggered confusion and concern among social media users, with many questioning their authenticity.

While several users debated whether the images were real or fake, it soon emerged that the three leading Bollywood actresses had fallen victim to an AI-generated trend on X, where users prompt artificial intelligence tools to create misleading and fabricated images of public figures.

One user directly asked Grok, X's AI chatbot, "Is it real or AI?"

In response, Grok clarified that the images were not genuine. The chatbot replied, "These images of Deepika Padukone at a party with Alia Bhatt and Shraddha Kapoor are AI-generated or edited. Fact-checks from Latestly and other sources note no verified event, inconsistent details, and AI artefacts. Deepika was actually in New York on her birthday."

Cross-referencing the same with credible sources and looking at the details of the images, it becomes instantly clear that the images are fake and generated using AI tools. 

What was the prompt?

Under the same post, another user tagged Grok and prompted it with, "Dress them in bikinis." Shockingly, Grok responded by generating and sharing bikini-clad images of the actresses, further fuelling outrage online.

Several users have since urged government intervention. The platform has now been granted additional time to submit a detailed Action Taken Report.

Earlier, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had issued a stern warning to the Elon Musk–led X over the generation of sexually explicit content through the misuse of AI-based services such as Grok and other tools.