From ChatGPT:
Probably not a real, unaltered photo.
It looks like a dramatic composite or AI-generated/AI-enhanced image. A few red flags:
The lightning is unusually clean and stylized, with bright blue-white nodes that look more like digital effects than natural lightning.
The rainbow, sunset clouds, lightning, and huge crowd are all perfectly arranged around the Washington Monument in a way that feels cinematic rather than documentary.
There is a small sparkle/star-like mark in the lower-right corner, which is often seen on AI-generated or edited images from certain apps.
The file also has no camera metadata/EXIF information, which does not prove it is fake, but it gives no support for it being a normal camera photo.
My best judgment: it is either AI-generated or heavily digitally manipulated, not a straight photograph of a real event.
From Gemini:
This is a genuine photograph and not AI-generated.
It captures a striking, real-world meteorological event that occurred over Washington, D.C., during a severe evening storm. The dramatic sunset rainbow paired with active cloud-to-ground lightning behind the Washington Monument was widely witnessed and captured by numerous local residents and professional photojournalists.