One of the biggest hurricanes this season has been churning throughout the Caribbean leaving a path of destruction in its wake, particularly in Jamaica. Hurricane Melissa was rated a category 5 storm when it struck the island nation Tuesday afternoon causing flash flooding and dangerous landslides. The storm has since moved on to eastern Cuba where weather experts believe upwards of 635mm or rain could fall. The storm is expected to weaken as it moves north to the Bahamas and the edge Florida.
Unfortunately, artificial intelligence-generated videos and images are spreading across various social media platforms, causing worry and misinformation for those who have family and friends in the affected areas. TikTok has removed over 24 fake storm videos so far while other videos and images have surfaced of people splashing in the water and walking in streets as the storm approaches. These are all fake. Some AI-generated videos, such as those made using Sora, have a watermark to clearly identify they’re not real.
Experts are reminding people to only share images and videos from legitimate news sources and real news pages. While it can be difficult to distinguish between real and AI-generated, there are things you can look for such as incorrect shadows, misplaced objects, unusual light flickers in videos, or even inconsistent lighting. The Government of Canada has a website dedicated to deciphering between real and AI content.
Whether a disaster happens in Canada, or abroad, AI-generated content can hamper recovery efforts and create more problems for families and rescuers alike. Always acquire your information from reputable news sources.
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