As monsoon rain flooded the riverbanks of Illawaddy in northern Myanmar, social media users shared AI-generated videos, which mistakenly claimed it portrayed a landslide on one of the country's major highways. The visuals contain the car-like inconsistencies that are characteristic of AI-made videos. The author confirmed that it was made with text-to-video generation software.
“Karen State, Misawady Road. Several vehicles were damaged due to landslides. June 1, 2025, 4:30pm, read “Read the Burmese Facebook post on June 1, 2025.
The video, which has earned over 3.3 million views, shows the rivers riotously rife with vehicles stuck along a muddy bank and people strewn along Mountain Pass highways.
Miyawadi Road is the main trade route connecting Myanmar with nearby Thailand and has often been shut down in the ongoing civil war. This was triggered by a military coup that abdicated Myanmar's civilian leaders in 2021 (archived links here and here).
The video was distributed after local media reported flooding in North Myanmar along the Irrawaddy River Basin in early June following sustained heavy rain (archive link).
It also surfaced in Burmese posts and elsewhere on Tiktok's Facebook.
However, the video was manufactured using AI.
An inverse image search on Google found an identical Tiktok video published on May 28, 2025 under the “AI Generated” label (archive link).
A check on the same Tiktok account showed that natural disaster AI was repeatedly sharing videos generated (archived links here and here).
Joao Tourinho, who runs the Tiktok account that posted the video, told AFP on June 10 that he created the video using Hailuo AI Tool, a text-to-video generation software.
“I regret using content that has been declared to be created by AI to spread misinformation,” he said. “My YouTube channel and Tiktok profile show that all my work is for those who enjoy apocalyptic entertainment created by AI.”
A thorough examination of the clip shows the typical visual inconsistencies in AI-generated videos, such as strangely shaped vehicles, cars fused together and broken white cars suddenly appearing.
Generic AI technology is rapidly improving, but visual inconsistencies persist and is the best way to identify manufactured content.
Other AFP denbas in the AI-generated images can be found here.
