An AI video appearing to show a cow protecting a child from a speeding train is being shared as a real incident.
Multiple visual discrepancies and results from AI detection tools confirmed that the footage was artificially generated.
The Claim
The video was shared on Facebook with the caption, "Animals appear to possess a more intuitive understanding of humanity's essence than humans do."
News18 Hindi also shared the video with a similar misleading claim.
What We Found: Viral Video Is Not Real, But AI-Made
1. Visual Discrepancies: A close review of the footage reveals several visual discrepancies. The passenger train appears to have an unusually small number of coaches, which is not typical. Additionally, brief visual glitches are noticeable when the cow attempts to push the child away from the moving train. After the impact, the child abruptly appears near the animal's legs, indicating unnatural transitions in the sequence.
Furthermore, the rail line joint visible in the video appears unnatural, with a track abruptly branching steeply from a straight line. A comparison between the visual from the viral video and images of rail line joints available on Indian Railways' official website can be seen below.
2. AI Detector Tools Flag Manipulation: To verify further, the video was tested using AI detection tools like Hive Moderation and Deepfake-o-Meter from University at Buffalo. Based on multiple analytical parameters, the tools indicated that the video contains AI-generated elements.
BOOM consulted its partners at the Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU), who also tested the video using several AI detection tools and found that the footage is not real.