AI-generated clips shared as 'real footage' of Los Angeles wildfires

The footage purportedly showing blazes across Los Angeles was shared on January 12 in a Facebook post which attracted more than 135,000 views.

"Terrible fire in Los Angeles. Losses are estimated to be around US$150 billion," the Malay-language caption said.

The blazes have killed at least 27 people, obliterated almost 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) and razed entire neighbourhoods in the US' second-largest city (archived link).

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Screenshot of the false post, taken January 20, 2025

The largest conflagration, the Palisades Fire, was 59 percent contained by January 20, and the area affected by evacuation orders has now shrunk to effectively match the fire's footprint (archived link).

The Eaton Fire, which wrecked a large part of the Altadena area, was 87 percent contained.

The same video was viewed thousands of times in similar Facebook posts, and also spread online in Arabic.

But a keyword search on Google found the video was previously posted by an Instagram page dedicated to creating AI content.

The video was captioned: "AI-generated representation of fires that can cause global warming".

The account "ai_creatiions" has posted multiple AI-generated videos depicting the Los Angeles fires, which feature the hashtag "#AIArt".

The account shares the same videos on its Facebook page.

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Screenshot of the ai_creations Facebook page, taken January 20, 2025

Moreover, visual clues in the video suggest it is AI-generated.

One of the clips appears to show police cars with fires on their roofs instead of a lightbar. 

Features in the clip, such as roads and cars, also look unnaturally smooth, showing none of the grain and noise seen in genuine videos of the wildfires.

AFP has debunked other false claims about the wildfires in Los Angeles here, here and here.