Water

Does a video show a man standing on the edge of the Chicxulub Crater which was formed when an asteroid slammed into the earth about 66 million years ago? No, that's not true: In follow-up comments under the post, the author says "This is an AI simulation of what it may have look like 66 million years ago". They suggest…

Does a real video show a mother giraffe handing a tiny baby giraffe to safari tourists through a car window? No, that's not true: The video is AI generated, as indicated by the brief flicker of the watermark from AI-generating website Vue Media on screen. A real baby giraffe is about six feet tall at birth and weighs between 100…

Does a video show a real Walmart employee getting arrested for giving milk to a baby? No, that's not true: The video is AI generated, as indicated by the brief flicker of the watermark from AI-generating app Sora on screen. As is often the case with AI-generated video, details are unrealistic: the police officer standing behind the woman getting arrested…

Does a real photo show a puffer parka filled with beer that can be sipped via a straw in the Tsingtao-labelled jacket's collar? No, that's not true: A major U.S. distributor of the popular Chinese beer brand told Lead Stories they have seen no such promotional product. Reverse image search shows no other photos in the wild of such a…

Does a video show the moment when a fed-up riot police officer pepper sprays a shouting protester in the face? No, that's not true: This video is AI-generated. A glitch that gives away the AI origin is that the pepper spray canister falls to the ground, and despite this, a sustained stream continues to spray from the officer's empty hand.…

Does a real video show Trump supporters lined up at the community food bank without their red MAGA hats on? No, that's not true: The video was labeled as AI-generated by the TikTok creator that posted it. The video also bears the watermark of the AI video generating app Sora along with the TikTok account handle. The fake video (archived…

Did "Judge Harrison" surprise a 14-year-old named David by telling him that the court proceeding was not just another foster care placement, but that he was going to be adopted by a "Mr. and Mrs. Gable"? No, that's not true: This is a made-up story with no verifiable details. There is no public record including the three names from the…

Did viral videos document that Ukrainian soldiers started to surrender en masse in Pokrovsk, as of November 5, 2025? No, that's not true: The clips showed a watermark of a generative AI tool. As of this writing, Ukraine denied that its soldiers in Pokrovsk were surrendering in large numbers. The claim appeared in a post (archived here and here) published…

Does a real video show a body-armor-wearing riot policeman smiling as he pepper-sprays a woman confronting him at a protest? No, that's not true: The video is labeled "Sora" with watermarks indicating it was created using OpenAI's text-to-video app. It originated on an account devoted to improbable wild animal videos, also labeled as Sora productions. Sora creates fake but "hyperreal"…

Does a real video show a rich executive trying to override a sherpa's decision to wait by paying him to keep going to the Everest summit? No, that's not true: A TikTok account has been posting AI-generated videos of stereotypical Everest scenarios. Some videos, one showing a motorized escalator to the summit, are clearly parody, while other fake videos posted…