AI-generated wildlife videos pose danger to people, animals
It’s the AI-nimal Kingdom.
The internet is becoming inundated with AI-generated wildlife clips, from bizarre interspecies playdates to animal trampoline sessions. While they might be adorable, these highly convincing faux animal videos are posing a danger to conservation efforts, per a study published in the journal Conservation Biology.
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“They reflect characteristics, behaviors, habitats, or relationships between species that are not real,” paper author José Guerrero, of the GESBIO group at the University of Cordoba in Spain, told Phys.org.
Researchers reportedly came to this conclusion by analyzing the plethora of AI-generated animal slop that’s proliferating social media — of which there’s quite a bit.
In one uber-viral clip, with hundreds of millions of views, a gang of rabbits can be seen jumping on a trampoline in tandem.
Despite its hyperrealism, the static background and the fact that some of the bouncing bunnies disappear mid-hop are dead giveaways that the clip is fugazi.
Another popular genre is gangs of unlikely animals such as polar bears and cats hanging out together — or even riding each other’s backs — like a more exotic “Homeward Bound movie.”
Along with being just plain ridiculous, these anthropomorphized clips “show us animals with human behaviors that are far from reality,” said Guerrero.
“For example, we see predators and prey playing,” he said. “The video of the child playing in the yard, the one featuring the leopard, undermines the conservation of a species like this, as you will never encounter it in that situation.”
Study collaborator Rocío Serrano said that this disconnect between humans and animals is “particularly pronounced among primary school children,” which “demonstrates a lack of knowledge of local fauna” among the youths.
“These videos create false connections with nature, as vulnerable species appear more abundant in these videos, and that is negative for conservation,” the scientist added.
These videos can also create distorted expectations among children, who might go out into the countryside in the US or UK and expect to see a capybara or other non-native species that exhibits the “magical or charismatic” traits in the videos.
When they can’t find these critters at home, they might try and buy them, fueling the already damaging “exotic pet trade,” writes study author Tamara Murillo.
In addition, cutesy AI-generated videos of close-up cuddles with wild cats or swimming atop of dolphins can potentially inspire “real-life copycat behaviors,” animal advocate Wild Welfare wrote in September.
They explained, “A well-meaning traveller may see a realistic AI video of a smiling elephant carrying a family through the jungle and assume that this is both natural and safe, not knowing that partaking in such activities often involves physical punishment, isolation, and a lifetime of hard labor for the animal.”
And the phenomenon’s not just potentially harmful to animals, either. Depicting animals like bears as cute and cuddly can be dangerous, as it might prompt people to seek out the creatures in the wild, warned Jenny Vermilya, a sociologist who studies animal-human relationships at the University of Colorado Denver, Atmos reported.
“I’m near the Rocky Mountains, and there’s a … long history of people going off into the mountains and wanting to interact with wild animals and getting mauled,” she said.
To counteract this harmful trend, the study authors proposed offering courses in media literacy and introducing “environmental knowledge into school curricula” so that “children understand from an early age that there are no lions here [Spain],” recalls Francisco Sánchez.
Unfortunately, AI-generated images can pose a bigger danger than misconceptions about megafauna.
The tech is frequently used to misrepresent real people as well.
OpenAI recently announced clamping down on deepfake videos of Martin Luther King Jr. on its video tool Sora 2 after his family complained about “disrespectful depictions” of the iconic leader.
Let’s be honest—no matter how stressful the day gets, a good viral video can instantly lift your mood. Whether it’s a funny pet doing something silly, a heartwarming moment between strangers, or a wild dance challenge, viral videos are what keep the internet fun and alive.