AI-Generated Video Viral as Visual Showing Cyclone Montha in Andhra Pradesh

AI-detection tool Hive Moderation concluded that the clip was generated using AI.

Fact-Check: This video is created using AI and is not real, as claimed. 

(Source: The Quint) 

A video showing a water body in distress, making a whirlpool is being shared as visuals of the recent Cyclone Montha in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Some context: Severe cyclonic storm Montha struck Andhra Pradesh, killing two people and damaging crops across 87,000 hectares, along with roads and infrastructure.

• The storm crossed near Narsapuram with winds up to 90 kmph before weakening into a deep depression on 29 October.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: Instagram/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.) We received a query about the same on our WhatsApp tipline number.

Is the claim true?: No, the claim is false as this video is created using artificial intelligence (AI).

• We were also able to trace this video back to April.

What we found: At first, we divided the clip into multiple screenshots and ran a Google reverse image search on some of them.

• It led us to older versions of the same viral video dating back to April. We also found posts from 10 September and 16 September. Swipe right to see the posts.

This post dates back to 18 April. 

This post dates back to 10 September. 

This post dates back to 16 September. 

• We noticed some comments under these older posts which noted that visual could be 'AI.'

Here is the comment noting that the video could be 'AI.'

(Source: Instagram) 

• This led us to run the viral clip on AI-detection website Hive Moderation. It concluded that the video was 99 per cent 'likely' AI-generated.

Here are the results by Hive Moderation. 

(Source: Hive Moderation) 

Conclusion: The viral video is created using AI and does not show the recent Cyclone Montha.

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