Claim: A viral video of a broadcast news report from Gujranwala shows a motorcyclist slipping on the road.
Fact: The absence of background noise from the environment, verbal inaccuracies, and the reporter’s lack of a reaction to the accident suggest that the video is AI-generated.
A video was shared on Facebook with the caption: “گوجرانوالہ سے خاتون صحافی کی رپورٹ ملاحظہ فرمائیں”
[Translation: Watch the report of a female journalist from Gujranwala.]
The video begins with a reporter saying, “Gujranwala mein aaj bohat taiz brish horahi hai aap dekh saktay hain aur jagah jagah paani khaara hogaya hai.” [It’s raining heavily in Gujranwala today, as you can see, and water has accumulated in several areas.]
A motorcycle then enters the frame and slips on the wet road. The reporter adds, “Aap dekhein meray peechhay ek shakhs gir gaya hai.” [You can see someone has fallen behind me.]
Soch Fact Check recently debunked a slew of monsoon-related misinformation and disinformation, where AI-generated content falsely depicts accidents in areas like Karachi, Dera Ghazi Khan, and Swat.
Fact or Fiction?
The viral video did not appear to originate from any credible local news outlet. A reverse-image search did not yield any results either. The logo/name, likely of a news channel, on the microphone in the reporter’s hand is unintelligible, and her mouth distorts as she speaks – both of these features are common in AI-generated videos.
According to a CanIPhish blog, people in AI-generated videos typically exhibit unnatural eye behaviour and microexpressions as AI struggles to replicate natural human expressions perfectly. Similarly, AI tools struggle to render text because they don’t understand letters like humans do. Instead of recognising words as distinct objects, they see text as patterns in images. So when generating text, AI predicts what looks right, but up close, it’s usually slightly off.
Upon closer inspection, we observed a “Veo” watermark in the bottom-right corner of the video. Veo is an AI-powered sports camera and analytics platform that uses advanced software to automatically record and analyse sports events. The presence of this watermark suggests the video may have been created or manipulated using AI tools, casting further doubt on its authenticity.
The reporter’s incorrect pronunciation of Urdu words like taiz [heavily], baarish [rain], and khaara [accumulated] hints at AI voice synthesis. The unnatural audio quality also stands out– one would typically expect to hear ambient noise from passing vehicles and the wind. However, the video only features the sound of the rain and the reporter’s voice.
Crucially, when the motorcyclist falls, no one steps in to help him, not even the reporter, whose reaction remains oddly calm. Her voice and expressions don’t change or show any surprise at witnessing the sudden accident. She continues reporting as normal, which would be highly unusual in a real-life situation.
Virality
The video was shared here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook. Archived here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: Anomalies such as verbal inaccuracies, the absence of background noise, and the reporter’s lack of a reaction to the accident indicate the video was not a genuine news report. It was likely created using AI.
–
Background image in cover photo: Associated Press of Pakistan
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com