AI-generated video purported to show raging fire after Israeli airstrike in Beirut goes viral
Video montage of airstrikes in Beirut. posted on X on Sunday night, showed huge fires in the sky of the city – but the most amazing scene was created by artificial intelligence.
The clip, which was intended to show fiery images of Israeli invasion of Lebanon was taken from a short video posted on TikTok five days earlier by an account under the username @digital.n0mad, whose profile on the app says they are an AI artist. The video is tagged as being in Beirut, but also has a disclaimer that it’s AI-generated, a label also used on the account’s other viral video creations.
AI video carries certain characteristics of computer generated images. The most obvious sign is that the traffic is moving faster than the lights. In addition, the mound near the two main towers seems to be melting, and the roof of the main building is not connected to anything.
Following that part, the second part of X’s video is actual footage of an Israeli strike near Beirut’s international airport on Saturday night. The original footage was broadcast live on the Lebanese TV network Al Jadeed, and CBS News has confirmed the footage.
The video, which includes a five-second clip of an image created by AI, was posted by several prominent accounts, including Rula Jebreal, an analyst and professor at the University of Miami, who has more than 207,000 followers on X, and the American Council. -Islamic Relations, an advocacy group based in Washington, DC, later removed the post.
Jebreal did not respond to a request for comment, and CAIR did not elaborate on why it reposted the video.
The agency said in a statement sent to CBS News that only the first few seconds showed AI-generated content, noting that the rest of the video was real footage from Beirut.
“So this appears to be one of those rare cases where the mistaken use of AI imagery doesn’t change anything about the point being made: buildings in Beirut are burning under an indiscriminate Israeli bombing campaign,” said a CAIR spokesperson.
Since the Israelis stepped up strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon two weeks ago, CBS News Confirmed has secured dozens of authentic videos from Beirut and other parts of the country, including clips showing massive fires, secondary explosions, people running in the streets, and extensive damage. While there is misleading content being circulated on social media, it usually takes the form of old photos reposted as being from the current controversy, not fake or published videos.
The Ministry of Health in Lebanon says that more than 2,000 people have been killed in the past two weeks, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said that during his visit to Lebanon on Sunday, more than a million people have left their homes.
