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Claim: An octopus destroys a parked vehicle in New York.
Verdict: The footage is generated by artificial intelligence. Not only is it misleading, but it is also entirely unrelated to the state of emergency in New York.
Full Text
After a state of emergency was declared in New York, USA, due to intense flooding, Social Mediaz, a Facebook page, released a cautionary video to the public. The brief clip features a massive octopus crawling over a parked white car in an enclosed garage. As it reaches the windshield, the creature extends its arms, resulting in the car being crushed and an alarm blaring. The video warns people to be mindful of where they park their vehicles during this critical situation.
The user attached descriptions such as “BREAKING: #State of #Emergency declared in #New York #City due to Mass #flooding. Be careful where you park your #car,” to the post. While this update has generated little engagement so far, the potential for causing public panic has necessitated this fact-check.
Verification
The sight of an octopus which typically is accustomed to life in water creating havoc on land, was truly strange. This video carried the tag “@ghost3d.” Upon conducting keyword searches, we located an original version of the footage on YouTube, posted by ghost3dee. This version, however, presented a different storyline. The post featured the caption “Giant Octopus crushes car” without specifying any location. Notably, several hashtags accompanied the post, with the standout one being “#cgi.”
CGI, according to TechTarget is an acronym for Computer Generated Images. It is a still or animated visual content produced with imaging software. It could be used for film special effects, anatomical modelling, advertising, video games, or television shows.
DUBAWA further examined this YouTube channel and discovered numerous fictional videos uploaded under this hashtag. Additionally, the channel’s description identifies its owner as a visual effects artist, “father of CGI octopus Churro, and enthusiast of all things alien.”
Conclusion
The video depicting an octopus crushing a car is a product of artificial intelligence. It is not only misleading, it has nothing to do with the New York state of emergency.
