AI-generated videos were clogging social media feeds on Monday as Hurricane Melissa surged towards Jamaica, diverting attention from critical safety information about the massive Category 5 storm.
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Agence France-Presse surfaced dozens of fakes – most bearing watermarks for OpenAI’s text-to-video model Sora – as Melissa was set to pummel the Caribbean island with violent winds and heavy rains.
The videos depicted a range of fabricated situations, from dramatic newscasts and shots of severe flooding to images of sharks in the water as well as poignant scenes of human suffering.
Others appeared to show locals – often voiced with strong Jamaican accents that seemed aimed at reinforcing stereotypes – partying, boating, jet skiing, swimming or otherwise minimising the threat of what forecasters have warned could be the island’s most violent weather on record.
Senator Dana Morris Dixon, Jamaica’s information minister, said she and other ministers were jointly taking part in a Monday press briefing to give “correct information” about the approaching monster storm.
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“I am in so many WhatsApp groups and I see all of these videos coming. Many of them are fake,” Dixon said. “And so we urge you to please listen to the official channels.”
Even ostensibly innocuous fakes can contribute to drowning out important safety alerts or cause viewers to underestimate the danger of severe storm events, experts said.