Does This Video Show Drunk Man Petting Tiger in MP’s Pench? A Fact-Check

We passed the video through multiple detectors which concluded that it was indeed AI-generated.

Fact-Check | The video has been generated using the help of AI and does not show real visuals.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video showing a man petting a tiger on the street and offering the wildcat to drink from a bottle is being shared on the internet as a recent incident from Madhya Pradesh's Pench area.

What have users said?: The post's caption identified the man as one Raju Patel, a 52-year-old labourer, who was in an inebriated state and was seen petting a wildcat. It further said that the man remained unharmed after the incident.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

The above post had gained over 59 thousand views on the platform. More archives of similar claims could be found here, here, and here.

What are the facts?: Multiple Artificial Intelligence (AI) detection tools show that the viral video has been AI-generated.

• Additionally, Rajneesh Singh, the deputy director of Pench Tiger Reserve, dismissed the video as fake and told a media outlet that it was not on a road within the reserve.

How did we find that out?: We conducted a simple keyword search with the words "pench tiger" and came across a news report published by a media outlet named The Sootr.

• The report said that Singh, deputy director of the Pench Tiger Reserve, dismissed the video as fake.

• He told the media outlet that the video was not on a road within the reserve, but could be from somewhere else.

• Singh further said that such a situation could never occur with a tiger unless it was a pet.

The report was published on 29 October.

(Source: The Sootr/Screenshot)

What did detection tools show?: Team WebQoof passed the viral clip through a tool named 'DeepFake-O-Meter' to further verify its authenticity.

• Three detectors of the tool showed conclusive results of the video being an AI-generated one and that it did not show depict real visuals.

All three detectors showed over 99 percent probability of the video being an AI one.

(Source: DeepFake-O-Meter/Screenshot)

DAU's analysis: We reached out to Misinformation Combat Alliance's (now known as Trusted Information Alliance) Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU), which ran the video through other detectors.

• A tool named 'Is It AI?' showed a similar result, which classified the video as AI-generated.

• The DAU also ran keyframes from the viral video on another tool called 'WasItAI', which showed that it was created by AI.

• (Swipe right to view all screenshots.)

Conclusion: It is evident that the video was AI-generated and did not show real visuals.

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