Original article (in Slovenian) was published on 31/12/2025; Author: Eva Gračanin
The Ljubljana City Inspectorate said they did not detect the alleged performance, nor were they informed about it.
On 16 December, the Facebook page Lepa Slovenija published a photo of an alleged musical performance on the Triple Bridge. They wrote that the previous afternoon, “passers-by in Prešeren Square were surprised by the Swedish death metal band Død on the Triple Bridge, who performed an impromptu concert in the middle of Ljubljana.”
The post was accompanied by a comment regarding a recent decree by the City Council banning spontaneous street music performances in December. Although the description of the Facebook page states it is intended “for entertainment purposes only,” comments below the post indicate that many Facebook users did not understand it as satire. The post received more than 1,800 likes and was shared by 100 users.
The Ljubljana City Inspectorate explained to Razkrinkavanje.si that during the week the concert was allegedly to have taken place, they conducted regular inspections regarding compliance with the decree alongside the police, traffic wardens, and the financial administration. They did not detect the alleged performance, nor were they informed about it, leading them to question whether the information was true.
We verified the photograph using the AI-detection tool Hive, which showed a less than 1% probability that it was created using artificial intelligence (AI) models.
Mladen Borovič, a lecturer at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Informatics, University of Maribor explained to Razkrinkavanje.si that while the image does not immediately appear to be generated by AI, he discovered signs suggesting it might be. He noted that the band members look as if they were “pasted” onto the background of Prešeren Square, which is slightly blurred. He also pointed out minor visual cues, such as bright outlines and pixels around the musicians’ elbows, as well as unnatural arm size and bending.
He added that these are details difficult to detect at first glance, which such posts exploit to gain attention and clicks. He emphasized that the post should have been clearly marked as satire.
After reviewing photographs of this the Christmas light displays, we also found that the trees on the Triple Bridge are decorated with yellow lights this year, rather than the blue ones shown in the post’s photo. Furthermore, the arrangement of the lights is different.
We compared the photograph of the alleged band members with photos of the Swedish metal band Död from Gothenburg. The faces of the members in the Triple Bridge photo do not match those of the actual band.
The administrator of the Lepa Slovenija page explained that both the photo and the text in the post were created using ChatGPT, which was prompted to create a humorous, bizarre, and sarcastic take on the ban on spontaneous street music performances in Ljubljana. He added that despite clear indications that an event is fictional, there are always individuals who believe such content.
The post is a satirical commentary on the municipal ban which many users misunderstood as describing a true event, which is why we have labelled it as satire.
