The Burj Khalifa was not illuminated with an image of Ratan Tata following his demise
An image of the late industrialist Ratan Tata featured on Burj Khalifa is being shared on social media (here and here) claiming that Burj Khalifa paid tribute to Ratan Tata following his demise. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Burj Khalifa was illuminated with an image of Ratan Tata following his demise.
Fact: No reports suggest that tributes were paid to Ratan Tata by projecting his image onto the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE. A similar photo of Ratan Tata standing in the foreground with a Nano car in the background was published on Britannica’s page and Associated Press’s websites crediting the photo to “Saurabh Das/AP/Shutterstock” in 2008. The McLaren Engineering Group shared an image of the illuminated Burj Khalifa on its website, noting that it depicts the LED light show from 2018. The analysis by Truemedia concluded that the image is likely digitally manipulated. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
No reports suggest that tributes were paid to Ratan Tata by projecting his image onto the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE. Additionally, a reverse image search of the viral image revealed a similar photo of Ratan Tata standing in the foreground with a Nano car in the background. The photo was on Britannica’s page and Associated Press’s websites crediting the photo to “Saurabh Das/AP/Shutterstock” in 2008.
We searched for the image of the Burj Khalifa in the background and found it on the website of a Dubai-based company called McLaren Engineering Group. Uploaded in 2018, the visual describes an LED light show for which McLaren Engineering Group assessed the structural components of an LED strip system. It was also stated that it set the Guinness World Record for the largest light and sound show on a single structure. Below is the comparison between the image shared by McLaren Engineering group on their website and the viral image.
We also checked the image on TrueMedia, a website that detects AI-generated content, to determine if the visual had been edited using AI. The analysis concluded, “This is likely digitally manipulated rather than an actual projection, as such specific projections are rare and typically reserved for highly publicized events.”
To sum up, the Burj Khalifa was not illuminated with an image of Ratan Tata following his demise.