Fake Disaster Videos Made by AI Spread Fear
- Hajin Kim
- Apr 19
- 1 min read
Apr 19, 2026
Hajin Kim
This year, many countries have suffered from natural disasters. At the same time, fake photos and videos made by artificial intelligence (AI) have spread quickly online. These false images make it harder for governments and people to respond to real emergencies.
For example, on July 30, a huge earthquake hit Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. Soon after, a video appeared on social media showing a giant wave covering a Japanese island. The video looked real and was viewed more than 39 million times on Facebook and TikTok.
But it was not real—it was an AI-made video from April. Similar things happened in March when a strong earthquake struck Myanmar. Fake videos showed buildings falling and streets breaking apart. Many people believed them, and even some foreign media reported them as true.
Because of so many fake images, sometimes real photos are mistaken for false. A British journalist posted a real photo of cars stuck in floods in Spain, but many people thought it was AI-generated.
In Japan, during floods in Fukuoka this month, the mayor first called reports “fake news.” Later, he had to apologize because the disaster was real.
These examples show a new problem: AI can create very realistic fake disaster scenes. Governments now worry that such false information can confuse people and slow down emergency responses.
