Recently, some videos of the Hollywood sign being engulfed by flames have spread virally on Instagram, spreading fear and confusion among users. The videos are AI-generated and entirely fake. This has highlighted the increasing level of sophistication deepfakes now pose in an attempt to tell fact from fiction online.
The viral videos typically show the iconic Hollywood sign ablaze, with smoke billowing and flames licking at the giant white letters. The realism of these videos is what makes them so convincing, leading many viewers to believe they are witnessing a real-time disaster. However, closer inspection and confirmation from official sources reveal that these are digitally manipulated creations.
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According to experts, such deepfakes were probably produced using advanced AI tools, which may be similar to Google’s Gemini AI platform. The latter boasts impressive video manipulation capabilities, where users can alter existing footage seamlessly or create entirely synthetic videos, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between authentic and fabricated content.
These spreading fake videos do underscore a new importance: that of media literacy and critical thinking in this digital era. Users, at the end of the day, need to know that these things are going on and learn how to keep themselves safe—namely, from not taking whatever comes their way.
So how does one tell whether it is a deepfake or not? Here are several indicators. Other possible indicators of manipulation include unnatural movements, flickering or inconsistent lighting, and distorted audio.1 Be very alert to facial expressions and lip sync, as those are usually problematic for deepfakes to get right. Also consider the source. If it is coming from a questionable or unknown account, chances are it is fake. Cross-checking online information against trustworthy news reports and government publications can also verify an online source’s legitimacy.
The Los Angeles Fire Department denied the rumor saying that the sign has never experienced a fire since its erection; hence the videos are far from the truth. Such occurrences remind everyone not to take every video one witnesses online literally since there are indeed some individuals taking advantage of internet freedom by sharing false information.
