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A viral video shows four sharks swimming in a hotel pool in Jamaica as floodwaters reportedly caused by Hurricane Melissa swamp the area. Another reportedly depicts Jamaica kintal The airport was completely destroyed by the storm. But none of these incidents happened, it is just AI-generated misinformation that is taking social media by storm. Caribbean This week.
These videos and others have been viewed millions of times on social media platforms including X. tiktok And Instagram,
Some of the clips appear to have been pieced together or based on footage from older disasters. Others appear to be created entirely by AI video generators.
“I’m in a lot of WhatsApp groups and see all these videos. A lot of them are fake,” Jamaica’s Education Minister Dana Morris Dixon said on Monday. “And so we urge you to please listen to the official channels.”
Although it is common for fake photos, videos and misinformation to surface during natural disasters, these are usually quickly dismissed. But videos generated by new artificial intelligence tools have taken the problem to a new level by making it easier to create and spread realistic clips.
In this case, the content is appearing in social media feeds along with real footage shot by local residents, causing confusion among social media users.
Here are some steps you can take to reduce your chances of being fooled.
check watermark
Look for a watermark logo indicating that the video was produced by Sora, a text-to-video tool launched by ChatGPT-creator. OpenAIOr other AI video generators. These will usually appear in one corner of the video or photo.
It’s fairly easy to remove these logos using third-party tools, so you can also check for blurring, pixelation, or discoloration where the watermark should be.
take a closer look
Watch the video more closely for unclear details. While the video of sharks in the pool seems realistic at first glance, a closer look makes it look less believable as one of the sharks has a strange shape.
You may see objects that blend together, or details like lettering on a sign that are distorted, which are clear signs of AI-generated imagery. Attention should also be paid to branding as many platforms are cautious about reproducing specific company logos.
Experts say that as technology improves, it is becoming harder to tell the difference between reality and deepfakes.
Experts said Melissa is the first major natural disaster since OpenAI launched the latest version of its video generation tool Sora last month.
“Now, with the rise of easily accessible and powerful tools like Sora, it has become even easier for bad actors to create and distribute highly credible synthetic videos,” said Sophia Rubinson, senior editor at NewsGuard, which analyzes online misinformation.
“In the past, people could often identify fakes through obvious signs like unnatural motion, distorted text, or missing fingers. But as these systems are improving, many of those flaws are disappearing, making it difficult for the average viewer to distinguish AI-generated content from authentic footage.”
Why create a deepfake about a crisis?
AI expert Henry Agder said most of the storm deepfakes he has seen are not inherently political. He suspects it is “too close to the more traditional type of click-based content, which is to try and get engagement, to try and get clicks.”
On X, users can get paid based on the amount of engagement their posts get. YouTubers can make money from ads.
A video that gets millions of views might earn the creator a few thousand dollars, Ajdar said, not bad for the amount of effort required.
Social media accounts also use video to expand their follower base to promote projects, products or services, Ejder said.
So check who is posting the video. Don’t be suspicious if the account has a track record of posting clickbait-style content.
But keep in mind that the people behind deepfake videos don’t always try to hide.
“Some creators are trying to do interesting things using AI that they think will attract people’s attention,” he said.
So who is behind the account?
While it’s unclear who actually made the pool shark video, a version found on Instagram bears a watermark attributed to the TikTok account, Yulian_Studios. That account’s TikTok profile describes itself in Spanish as “content creator with AI visual effects in the Dominican Republic.” The shark video can’t be found on the account’s page, but there is another AI-generated clip of a fat man clinging to a palm tree as hurricane winds blow in Jamaica.
trust your gut
Context matters. Consider whether what you’re seeing is plausible or not. The Poynter journalism website advises that if you see a situation that seems “exaggerated, unrealistic or out of character”, consider that it may be a deepfake.
This also includes audio. AI videos used to come with synthetic voice-overs that had unusual cadences or intonations, but new tools can create synchronized sound that sounds realistic.
And if you found it on X, be sure to check if there’s a Community Note attached, which is the platform’s user-driven fact-checking tool.
A version of the Shark Pool video on X comes with a community note that says: “Both this video footage and the sound used were created by artificial intelligence, this is not actual footage of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica.”
Go to an official source
Don’t rely on random strangers on the Internet for information. The Government of Jamaica and the National Hurricane Center are also posting storm updates.