AI-generated video purportedly showing fiery Beirut skyline goes viral

A video montage of airstrikes in Beirut. posted to X on Sunday night, showed massive fires on the city skyline — but the most dramatic scene was made by artificial intelligence.

The clip, which purported to show fiery footage of Israeli bombardment in Lebanon  was taken from a short video posted to TikTok five days earlier by the account under the username @digital.n0mad, whose bio on the app says they are an AI artist. The video was tagged as being in Beirut, but also carried a disclaimer that it was AI-generated, a label also applied to some of the account’s other sensational video creations.

The AI video carries some hallmarks of computer-generated footage. The most obvious sign is that the vehicle traffic is moving at a much faster speed than the fires. Additionally, a mound next to the two large towers appears to melt, and the large building’s roofline is not connected to anything.

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