AI-generated animals in fake surveillance videos are fooling the internet
If the internet loves anything, it's cute animals. But now, in the age of AI, you cannot trust the animal videos you see online.
You might've seen a recent viral video featuring bunnies jumping on a trampoline, seemingly captured via a home surveillance camera. It's adorable. And fake. Completely and totally fabricated via artificial intelligence.
Here's the AI video in question. It was seemingly first posted on TikTok by @rachelthecatlovers with the caption: "Just checked the home security cam and… I think we’ve got guest performers out back! @Ring.”
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That video has racked up a whopping 203 million views on TikTok. Tech-focused site 404Media first pointed out that it was generated by artificial intelligence. As the site spotted, you can clearly see one of the bunnies spontaneously disappear in the midst of a jump, and the background of the video appears to be very static.
Still, the AI video does a really good job of disguising itself. For one, it's made to look like night-time surveillance footage, which means it's easier to hide AI artifacts and low quality. Second, it does look pretty good and incorporates sounds that seems to be real — bugs in the distance, springs squeaking as the bunnies jump. Third, it even tags Ring to make it seem like it was captured by a real camera. But it is, in fact, fake, even if it did fool lots of folks.
Ever since Google Veo 3 was released, it's become easier to make convincing AI videos with sound.
People are getting a little freaked out that they got fooled by AI, something they thought only happened to other, more gullible people. "This is the first AI that has ever got me," read a top comment. "[How] is this not real," read another. "A few years ago I was laughing at my mother for believing ai," read another.
The bunny video — while possibly the most believable — is far from the only AI-generated animal video to go viral. There seems to be a whole genre of fake videos of people cleaning barnacles off of whales, for instance.
Or here's a mash-up of all the silly, fake doorbell-cam footage of animals. Faux surveillance footage of animals seems to be a new genre of AI slop, unfortunately.
So if you see unbelievable animal footage out there, then maybe don't, you know, believe it.
Tim Marcin is an Associate Editor on the culture team at Mashable, where he mostly digs into the weird parts of the internet. You'll also see some coverage of memes, tech, sports, trends, and the occasional hot take. You can find him on Bluesky (sometimes), Instagram (infrequently), or eating Buffalo wings (as often as possible).
