AI-generated videos misrepresented as genuine footage of deadly monsoon floods in India
- Published on September 13, 2025 at 05:59
- 4 min read
- By Akshita KUMARI, AFP India
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"Condition of Punjab due to heavy rain," reads a Hindi-language Instagram post shared on August 28, 2025.
The 14-second clip shows a large number of buffaloes wading through floodwaters with a text overlay that reads: "This is the situation in Punjab."
At least three other videos showing similar scenes surfaced on Facebook around the same time also claiming they showed flooding in Punjab and other states of India.
Flooding across the northwestern state killed at least 29 people and affected over 250,000 in August, with the state's chief minister calling it "one of the worst flood disasters in decades" (archived link).
Authorities have said they fear a "huge loss of livestock", the full extent of which will only be clear when the waters recede, according to a bulletin issued by the state authorities.
The false posts with similar claims were shared elsewhere on Facebook but visual inconsistencies in the video suggest that it is AI-generated.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the clip found it uploaded on a TikTok page named "abdulwaheedpaak" on July 15, 2025, which posted many AI-generated videos related to floods (archived here and here).
The clip contains some visual errors -- including the animals moving in a set pattern and the unnatural flow of water -- signs that it was generated with AI.
The same TikTok page uploaded the video showing people taking shelter on a train on August 27, which similarly has visual inconsistencies, including two separate train carriages suddenly turning into one and a person in blue clothes that seems to reappear after falling off the train (archived link).
The third clip was posted on an Instagram page "ai.inlife" on August 5 (archived link).
The page labels itself as a "digital creator" and has a bio saying it shows "mind-blowing AI trends" (archived link).
The last video corresponds to a clip posted on TikTok on September 1, which is marked as made with AI (archived link).
Similar to the other videos, many visual clues suggesting it to be fake can be seen, including people disappearing after the floodwater hits and unnatural movement.
AFP has previously debunked false claims about monsoon floods in India as well as fabricated content created with AI.
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