A video which shows different visuals of a massive octopus is being shared on the internet with users believing them to be from a real incident.
Some people have identified the location as Bali, Indonesia.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)
When this report was being written, we found that the video had recorded over 23 thousand views on the platform.
(More archives of similar claims can be viewed here, here, and here.)
What is the truth?: These visuals have been generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and are not from a real incident.
Finding the source of the video: We noticed a watermark of an Instagram handle that said "BEST_OF_AI".
The video had a watermark.
(Source: Viral video/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
On searching for it on Google, we came across an Instagram account with the same username.
The same visuals were published on 1 July and its caption carried a fictional story about a massive octopus.
Team WebQoof went through the handle and found that the user regularly uploads such visuals.
The user's bio said, "Experimenting with different AI engines, themes and styles."
We have reached out to the user for their inputs and this report will be updated as and when a response a received.
Discrepancies in the images: We found several glaring discrepancies in some of the visuals shared in the video.
A closer look at the first image showed people in the background having extra limbs and mishappen fingers.
In the second image, we see two people looking at each other, one of their legs twisted in the opposite direction.
These errors are commonly spotted in AI-generated images.
The image had several discrepancies.
(Source: Viral video/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
What did detection tools show?: We passed the first image through an AI detection tool named 'TrueMedia' and found that it showed "substantial evidence of manipulation."
The tool showed that the image was manipulated.
(Source: Truemedia/Screenshot)
Lack of news reports: It should be noted that if such a massive octopus had indeed appeared in Indonesia, there would have been several news reports indicating the same. However, we did not find any reports or information available in the public domain to support the claim.
Conclusion: A set of AI-generated images is being shared to falsely claim that they show real visuals of a massive octopus spotted in Indonesia.
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