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AI-manipulated videos of bizarre animals circulated online as real

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In the digital age, the Internet has become a breeding ground for misinformation and deceptive content, with AI-manipulated videos and images playing a significant role. These AI technologies can create highly realistic yet entirely fabricated visual content, leading to widespread confusion and the spread of false information. 

Recent trends have shown an influx of videos featuring bizarre animal hybrids, such as a fish with a dog head, a fish with a cow head, and a fish with a tiger head. The captions can be “Which animal is this? Strange animals and other fabrications captivate the curiosity of many X, Facebook, WhatsApp, and other social platforms users.

A close examination of the videos shows that their backgrounds have unusual and uncoordinated movements of people standing behind the animals. One of the people (without faces) shown behind the fish with a cow head has three legs. Another pair of legs seen at the beginning of the 13-second video suddenly turned into a new pair, and an unidentified object (pink) appeared between the legs. 

Similarly, the 16-second video of the tiger-fish has similar features. The legs in the background disappear and appear like people entering one another, while the muddy water on the ground where the ‘tiger-fish’ crawls remains still. 

These features are common to AI-generated videos. Also, many deepfake videos of this nature do not show people’s faces and are usually very short in length.

DUBAWA uncovered the source of such bizarre images on the Internet. Using a keyword search on Google, we found a Dreamers United website. We found the photoshopped image of the dogfish on a February 16, 2016, post by “Anonymised,” titled “Swimming with Dog-fish.”

We also traced the source of the bizarre-looking animals to Pinterest and a photo manipulation contest called Worth1000. According to The New Yorker, Worth1000 is a “playground for artists and graphic provocateurs.” Photoshop wizards use it to create manipulated animals and celebrities.

How are these AI videos created?

People do not need special skills to fabricate images and videos using AI technologies. All that is needed is the right prompts and selection of the desired elements for the AI tools. Some of these tools are:

Invideo AI: This AI uses text prompts to generate videos. Users only need to describe the kind of video they want. The AI provides the video and can add narration, subtitles, background sound, and effects. After the textual prompt, users choose the audience, look and feel, and the platform for sharing the video. It will also supply a captivating caption for the image generated, such as “Tigerfish spotted in an African river,” “Unbelievable! Fish with a dog head,” and “Bizzare creature! Tiger with a cock head.”

Bing: This AI uses a chat feature to generate images from textual prompts. Users provide details of the images they want, and the AI will create them.

Viggle: This AI application can create videos from text and animate photos to dance to chosen music tracks. It has realistic character movements and works on both desktop and mobile, with an easy-to-use interface that can be downloaded for free. More features are unlocked for those subscribing to the application’s paid plan. Viggle provides a pool of video templates. Users must upload an image they desire and choose any video template they wish. The uploaded picture begins to move as in the video template.

Kapwing: Kapwing’s AI Video Generator creates high-quality videos based on your descriptions. It features subtitles, background music, and transitions, giving you full control over editing. You can also choose the length of the video and convert an uploaded image to a video. 

FlexClip’s AI video generator creates lifelike videos from text prompts. It also creates engaging scripts, real human voiceovers, and authentic videos and pictures from text prompts. The AI tool can translate voices into multiple languages.

Renderforest transforms your ideas into beautiful, personalised videos in minutes. You simply type your idea, choose a style, and let the AI handle the rest.

Like the AI tools used to create the bizarre-looking animals posted on the Internet, several other AI tools are used to create false narratives, such as fake WhatsApp conversations, newspaper posts, email messages, and singing characters. DUBAWA identified some of these AI tools. 

Conclusion

The rise of AI-manipulated videos and images underscores the need for heightened vigilance and critical thinking in our digital age. As these technologies evolve, they will undoubtedly become more sophisticated and harder to detect, making it increasingly easy for false information to spread rapidly. By understanding that not everything we see online is genuine, we can better protect ourselves from being deceived and inadvertently contributing to the spread of misinformation. Before sharing or believing any extraordinary visuals, verify their authenticity through trusted sources and fact-checking platforms. 

This report is produced for the DUBAWA 2024 Kwame Karikari Fact-Checking Fellowship in partnership with The Hope Newspaper to facilitate the ethos of truth in journalism and enhance media literacy in Nigeria.

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