Heavy monsoon rains triggered lethal floods and landslides throughout India in August, however a video circulating on-line exhibiting a prepare being swept away in floodwaters was made with AI. The one who made the clip confirmed to AFP he made it utilizing completely different AI instruments and the video accommodates visible inconsistencies indicative of AI-generated content material.
“Prepare submerged in Ganga River in Patna,” reads Hindi-language overlaid textual content on a clip shared on Instagram on August 21, 2025.
Patna is a metropolis within the jap Indian state of Bihar.
The video exhibits a number of compartments of a prepare submerged in a surging river whereas persons are stranded on the foot of a bridge pier. Males, a few of them with handheld microphones, might be seen standing on the river financial institution and over the bridge.
Rivers have flooded a number of cities in Bihar displacing greater than 2.5 million individuals throughout 10 districts in August (archived hyperlink).
Screenshot of the false Instagram submit captured August 27, 2025, with a crimson X added by AFP
The video was shared in related posts on Fb and Instagram alongside claims it confirmed a real prepare accident.
India has seen a number of lethal flooding disasters in August within the northern Himalayan area (archived hyperlink).
Highly effective torrents pushed by intense rain smashed into Chisoti village in Indian-administered Kashmir on August 14, killing no less than 65 individuals and leaving one other 33 lacking.
Floods on August 5 overwhelmed the Himalayan city of Dharali in India’s Uttarakhand state and buried it in mud. The possible loss of life toll from that catastrophe is greater than 70 however has not been confirmed.
Floods and landslides are widespread through the June-September monsoon season, however consultants say local weather change, coupled with poorly deliberate growth, is rising their frequency, severity and impression.
Social media customers appeared to imagine the clip to be real, with one commenting, “Oh god defend all”.
“It’s a very horrible accident,” one other consumer wrote.
However the video is AI-generated.
A mixture of reverse picture search and subsequent key phrase search discovered the video posted on Instagram on August 20 (archived hyperlink).
“Prepare in Patna falls in Ganga, AI edited,” its caption says.
“This video is totally Al generated and never actual. It is made just for leisure and creativity functions. Please do not take it as actual footage.”
Screenshot comparability between false submit (L) and Instagram video
The account has repeatedly uploaded related AI-generated movies and states in its bio, ” AI Video Creator “.
Satish Toriyahi, proprietor of the Instagram account, advised AFP on August 27 that he made the movies utilizing “professional AI instruments like Google VEO and Grok’s superior model.”
“I first created a timeline by submitting a couple of seconds of immediate to Google’s device and later edited it with the assistance of Premiere Professional and added sound to it,” Toriyahi advised AFP by way of cellphone.
Regardless of the meteoric rise in AI know-how, visible errors — like distorted textual content on prepare compartments and microphones in addition to unnatural motion of water — nonetheless seem. Cautious examination of a picture is a key device for figuring out authenticity.
AFP has beforehand debunked false claims about monsoon floods in India in addition to fabricated content material created with AI.
