Brief
AI‑generated images of ancient Egyptian cat statues debunked as fake
Fact‑check shows the circulating cat‑on‑human Egyptian statue images were AI‑generated memes posted in late September.
By Felo News Desk · Published
Snopes reported that two images circulating online in late September, which purported to show ancient Egyptian sculptures of cats walking on or resting against people, are fabricated by artificial‑intelligence tools.
What happened
The images first appeared on the Soft Cat Memes Facebook, Instagram and Threads accounts on September 25, with a second image posted on September 26. Both pictures include overlaid text claiming cats have long ignored personal space. The posts were shared on Facebook, Threads, X and Instagram, and a Facebook user added a caption on September 29 stating, “4,000‑year‑old statues prove cats have always ignored personal space.”
What the reports add
Snopes’ reverse‑image searches found no earlier instances of the pictures before late September, and scans with OpenAI’s free detection tool flagged the content as AI‑generated, showing a SynthID watermark. The fact‑check also notes that cats do appear frequently in genuine Egyptian artifacts, which may explain why some commenters assumed the images were authentic.
What was said
Snopes contacted the manager of the Soft Cat Memes accounts, who confirmed the images were created with an AI tool but declined to name the specific software or prompts used.
How it came about
The meme accounts posted the images with humorous captions about cats’ disregard for personal space, capitalising on the popularity of internet cat content. The spread of the images across multiple platforms prompted the fact‑check after users began sharing them as genuine ancient artifacts.
Key facts
- The two cat‑on‑human Egyptian statue images first appeared on Soft Cat Memes social‑media accounts on September 25 and 26, 2026. (snopes.com)
- Reverse‑image searches found no earlier versions of the pictures before late September. (snopes.com)
- OpenAI’s detection tool identified the images as AI‑generated and showed a SynthID watermark. (snopes.com)
- The manager of the meme accounts confirmed the images were created with an AI tool. (snopes.com)
Sources
- [1] snopes.com — originally reported as “Images allegedly show ancient Egyptian sculptures with cats ignoring personal space. Are they real?”
