Between January 10-12, Georgian and Russian-speaking Facebook users shared videos related to the fires in California. The Georgian posts linked the fires to punishment for crimes committed by people.
The circulated video collages are generated using artificial intelligence and do not depict the actual ongoing fires in California.
The videos exhibit flaws characteristic of AI-generated visuals:
- Power lines are passing through trees.
- In the scenes showing the movement of police cars, the motion of the vehicles is unnaturally uniform, which is more characteristic of computer graphics than real movement.
- In the overhead city shots, where the movement of vehicles is visible, at certain moments, the cars disappear.
- There is fire on the top of the car, yet its headlights are still functioning. In the background, along the road, there appears to be the light of a car’s rear lights, but it flickers like fire. The power lines are curved and “tied” to the tree. The car’s license plates only resemble lettering in shape.
- The road and the overall view of the city are unnatural and unrealistic.
There are also flaws in the video that supposedly show firefighters rescuing animals.
The movement of the animals and firefighters is unnatural. In most of the shots, wild animals, including predators, calmly stand next to the firefighters, and birds do not fly away, even though the video suggests the fire’s epicenter is very close.
- In the first shot, the firefighter is holding bears that look more like toys than real bears, and the human’s movement itself is also unnatural.
- In one shot, the firefighter’s hands are merged, and the deer is unnaturally lying down.
- Near the epicenter of the fire, a man is without any special gear, and the fox is oddly sitting on a tree log.
- The firefighter’s legs are tangled.
Since January 7, multiple wildfire hotspots have been fought in Los Angeles. The exact causes of the fires have not yet been determined. As of now, the fires have claimed the lives of 25 people and have affected more than 15,000 hectares of land. Following the onset of the fires, false visual materials related to them have begun to spread.
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